Nov. 23, 2004

Tyler Jones of Boise State, Mike Nugent of Ohio State, and Andrew Wellock of Eastern Michigan have been selected as finalists for the 2004 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award presented by the FedEx Orange Bowl 2005 National Championship.

The 350 voters for the Lou Groza Award are comprised of all Division I head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters from across the country, conference officials, various NFL kickers and all previous Lou Groza Award finalists. The finalists will be recognized at the Lou Groza Award Banquet hosted at the West Palm Beach Marriott on Tuesday December 7th. The Award winner will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Thursday December 9th from 7-9pm.

Tyler Jones, a senior, is 19 for 22 on field goals and 57-58 on PATs. Jones has scored more points than any other Division 1A place-kicker with 115 on the season. The Broncos, currently 10-0 overall, 7-0 WAC, have moved to seventh in this week's Bowl Championship Series standings. Boise State also extended the nation's longest win streak to 21 games and tied BYU's record for most consecutive conference wins at 25. Catch Tyler Jones and the Boise State Broncos at the University of Nevada this Saturday (Nov. 27) on ESPN.

Mike Nugent, a Groza finalist in 2002, has been a highlight of the season for Ohio State. So far in his senior season, Nugent is 20 for 23 on field goals and 27 of 27 on PATs. He has kicked 6 of 8 field goals from 40-49 yards; 5 of 6 from 50+ yards including two 55-yarders. He contributed 3 field goals this past Saturday from 21, 42, and 48 yards in the Buckeye's win over rival Michigan. In 2004 Nugent was named a team captain for the Buckeyes; he is the first kicker to be chosen since Tom Skladany in 1976. Currently Nugent either holds outright or shares 18 school records.

Sophomore Andrew Wellock has spent much of the season on top of the NCAA rankings with over 1.9 field goals per game. He is 21 of 23 on field goals, 6 of 7 from 40 plus. He is 33 of 34 on PATs. After this week's game against Northern Illinois, Wellock is the EMU single-season points scored leader with 95. He has also been named by the Mid-American Conference as West Division Special Teams Player of the Week twice. One of which was against Central Michigan when Wellock made four field goals, including the 24-yard game-winner in the fourth overtime. The Lou Groza Award is named for NFL Hall-of-Fame Kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.