University of Toledo senior placekicker Alex Steigerwald (Mayfield Village, OH) was one of 30 players named to the Lou Groza Award Watch list today. The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the nation’s best placekicker.

Steigerwald is a three-year starter who earned second-team All-MAC honors in 2007. He has a career field-goal percentage of 85.7 (36-of-42), which ranks first in Mid-American Conference history. He connected on a MAC-record 23 conseuctive field goals from 2007-08. He is one of only two kick[er]s from the Mid-American Conference to make the list. Mike Salreno of Northern Illinois is the other.

Good to see Steigerwald getting some recognition for his ability and consistency. 85.7% field-goal percentage is nothing to sneeze at. I think a lot of the nation still believes that FGs should be gimmes… but some of the “strongest” programs in the nation, over the last five years even, have proven that this is not always the case. Stability in the kicking game is paramount to staying the course and keeping the offensive and defensive plans on track. I think the kicking game cannot be overlooked or taken for granted and having a specialist like Steigerwald is a real bonus to the program. There were times last season where kicking seemed to be the only thing going our way and was the only bright spot in a sea of problems. Good to have Steigerwald handling the kicking responsibilities against this year – its one area Beckman has a little breathing room.

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