Already one of the most prolific placekickers in Syracuse football history, Andre Szmyt can further cement his stellar position on the national scene.
In just two campaigns on the Hill, Syracuse football redshirt junior placekicker Andre Szmyt has electrified Orange fanatics with his long list of accomplishments.
Heading into the 2020 stanza, assuming a season does move forward amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the 6-foot-1, 184-pound Szmyt has a realistic chance to do something that has rarely occurred at his position in the sport.
Only Florida State’s Sebastian Janikowski, who went on to a legendary placekicking career in the NFL, has captured the Lou Groza Award on two occasions, winning the honor in 1998 and 1999, according to an announcement from cuse.com.
Szmyt, as a freshman in 2018, became the first Syracuse football player to receive the Lou Groza Award, which is doled out annually to the country’s top kicker.
Now, in 2020, Szmyt seeks to claim this national honor yet again, and he’s certainly in the running. The Palm Beach County Sports Commission has unveiled its 30-player pre-season watch list for the 2020 Lou Groza Award, and Szmyt unsurprisingly made the cut.
This award is named after NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who suited up for 21 campaigns with the Cleveland Browns, winning four championships and receiving NFL Player of the Year honors in 1954.
The 29th-annual Lou Groza Award will trim down to 20 semi-finalists on Nov. 5, with three finalists then named on Nov. 24. Finally, this year’s recipient of the Lou Groza Award will get announced by ESPN on Dec. 10.
Andre Szmyt, although only a redshirt junior with Syracuse football, has already established himself as one of the nation’s best kickers.
Szmyt, a unanimous All-American in 2018 and a member of the All-ACC third team a stanza ago, is on the 2020 pre-season All-ACC second squad from Athlon Sports, Lindy’s and Phil Steele, per cuse.com.
In his Syracuse football career, Szmyt is an astounding 47 out of 54 in field-goal attempts, which translates to a success rate of .870.
According to the cuse.com statement, Szmyt presently checks in at No. 7 on the Syracuse football all-time scoring list with 241 points. He is also the Football Bowl Subdivision leader in points scored a game (9.6) and field goals connected on per contest (1.88).