The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB's Gallego On Groza Award Watch List
8/7/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
The list is comprised of the top 30 preliminary candidates for the 10th annual award, which is sponsored by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission University of Cincinnati sophomore kicker Jonathan Ruffin, the 2000 Lou Groza Award winner, headlines C-USA's initial list of candidates, which also includes Tulane's Seth Marler and UAB's Gallego.
Ruffin, a junior from Metairie, La., set a school mark by making a field goal in every game last season, shattering the Bearcats' old school season record of 17 field goals, formerly held by Tom Dallen. He tied the school record for field goals in a game with four against both Tulane and UAB en route to setting the single-season record for kick scoring points with 104. He also set the UC standard by making 12 consecutive field goals over a five-game stretch, besting the old mark of eight straight set by Eric Richards in 1997. Ruffin was picked to repeat as Conference USA's Special Teams Player of the Year in a vote done by the league's head coaches.
Marler
has booted 31 field goals in his first two seasons at Tulane, going 16-for-21
last season, including a perfect 10-for-10 inside the 40.? He led Tulane and finished second in
Conference USA in scoring with 85 points, the third-most in school
history.? A junior from Lilburn,
Ga., Marler kicked field goals in each of the first nine games of the season
and completed the year by connecting on 37-of-39 PATs, the third-best single
season total in school history.?
The only C-USA freshman to earn All-Conference accolades in 1999, Marler
has never missed inside of 30 yards and has a career long of 51.
Gallego finished his first full season as UAB's placekicker earning second team
All-Conference USA honors after connecting on 19of-24 field goal attempts and
19-of-23 PATs.? The senior set a
new UAB record by booting four field goals against Louisiana-Lafayette,
including a career-long 47-yarder.?
Gallego's most memorable kick last season came on September 23 as
his 32-yard boot as time expired gave UAB a 13-10 win at LSU.? He also booted the game-winning field
goal with 2:34 to play at East Carolina on October 28.
Started in 1992, the Lou Groza Award is named after Lou "The Toe" Groza, the Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame placekicker who is credited with elevating the role of placekicker to one of an offensive weapon and scoring machine. Groza, who played 21 seasons in the NFL, set NFL records for field goals and extra points in a season as a rookie and he ended his career with 10 league records and 24 Cleveland Browns marks.
Previous recipients of the award included Memphis' Joe Allison in 1992, Judd Davis of
Florida in 1993, Arizona's Steve McLaughlin in 1994, Michael Reeder of TCU in
1995, Kansas State's Martin Gramatica in 1997, Sebastian Janikowski of Florida
State in both 1998 and 1999 and Ruffin last season.
For more information about the Lou Groza Award, please visit: www.palmbeachsports.com/Groza
2001LOU GROZA AWARD WATCH LIST:
Name??? Yr.??????? School
John
Anderson?? Jr.??????? Washington
Steve
Azar???????? So.?????? Northern
Illinois
Mike
Barth???????? Jr.??????? Arizona
State
Billy
Bennett?????? So.?????? Georgia
Javier
Beorlegui? Sr.??????? Central Florida
Andy
Brumbergs Jr.??????? Miami (Ohio)
Nick
Calaycay??? Jr.??????? Boise
State
Ryan
Cesca?????? Jr.??????? Oregon
State
Jeff
Chandler????? Sr.??????? Florida
Travis
Dorsch???? Sr.??????? Purdue
Tim
Duncan??????? Jr.??????? Oklahoma
Damon
Duval????? Jr.??????? Auburn
Chris
Earnest???? Sr.??????? Tulsa
Todd
France?????? Jr.??????? Toledo
Rhett
Gallego???? Sr.??????? UAB
Chris
Griffith?????? Jr.??????? UCLA
Seth
Hanson????? Sr.??????? Kentucky
Nate
Kaeding????? So.?????? Iowa
Sean
Keel????????? Jr.??????? Arizona
Brian
Kelly???????? So.?????? Middle
Tennessee State
Luke
Manget????? Jr.??????? Georgia
Tech
Seth
Marler??????? Jr.??????? Tulane
Dan
Nystrom????? Jr.??????? Minnesota
Jeff
Reed?????????? sr.??????? North
Carolina
Jonathan
Ruffin? Jr.??????? Cincinnati
Todd
Sievers????? Sr.??????? Miami
(Fla.)
Toller
Starnes???? Sr.??????? Eastern
Michigan
Neal
Thomas????? Jr.??????? Alabama
Alex
Walls????????? Jr.??????? Tennessee
Carter
Warley???? So.?????? Virginia
Tech
