Lou Groza Award Announces Final Three
Article posted on 11/30/2009

WEST PALM BEACH-- The Palm Beach County Sports Commission is pleased to announce Kai Forbath of UCLA, Leigh Tiffin of Alabama and Blair Walsh of Georgia are the finalists for the 2009 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the Fed-Ex Orange Bowl. These three players have compiled exceptional seasons in earning this honor.

Forbath, a junior from Pacific Palisades, California, took over the national lead in field goals made, kicking three in the Bruins defeat of Arizona State in Pasadena last Saturday. He has made three or more field goals in five games this season and has been successful from 50 yards or more three times. In three seasons he has connected on 9 of 12 tries from that length.

Tiffin is second in the nation in kick scoring with 109 points and seventh overall. He is just one field goal behind Forbath. The senior from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, is the Crimson Tide’s all-time scoring leader with 362 points and has tied Philip Doyle’s record for career field goals with 78, with three games still to play this season.

Consistency is Walsh’s strength. The sophomore from Boca Raton, Florida, is second in the nation by connecting on 94.1 percent of his field goal attempts. By making 16 of 17 field goals, he is flirting with the all time Bulldog single season accuracy mark of 92.86 percent. He is 4 of 4 from fifty yards or more and is the only one of the finalists who has not missed an extra point try (34-34).

The Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award recognizes the top place-kicker in the NCAA FBS Division. Voters for the award include head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters, conference representatives, and previous Groza Award winners.

The three finalists will be honored in Palm Beach County at the 18th Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Banquet on Tuesday, December 8 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The 2009 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award will be presented on Thursday, December 10 during the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

For more information regarding the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award banquet, including hotel and ticket information, please contact Kris Pursell at the Palm Beach County Sports Commission at (561) 233-3124.

About the National College Football Awards Association

The Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s official Web site, www.NCFAA.org.

Leigh Tiffin Bio >

 

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