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Tennessee football: Brent Cimaglia on Groza watch list

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Brent Cimaglia #42 kicks the ball held by Joe Doyle #47 of the Tennessee Volunteers against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: Brent Cimaglia #42 kicks the ball held by Joe Doyle #47 of the Tennessee Volunteers against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee football Volunteers place kicker is getting preseason recognition for the award.

After becoming a semifinalist last year for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation’s best place kicker, Tennessee football rising senior Brent Cimaglia already has a head start in receiving another chance to win it. Heading into 2020 he’s a great candidate to win it as well.

Cimaglia was among 30 players named to the award’s preseason watch list Wednesday. He is coming off a season in which he nailed 23-of-27 field goals, including nine-of-11 from beyond 40 yards and both attempts from beyond 50 yards.

In addition to those numbers, Cimaglia still is yet to miss an extra point in 69 attempts throughout his career, and he hit a 53-yarder last year, the longest field goal for a Tennessee football kicker since Jeff Hall in 1995. Here’s what the site said about him.

"A 2019 Groza semifinalist, Cimaglia kicked more field goals in one season than any Tennessee kicker in over 30 years. His 17 makes from at least 30 yards out rank third among returning FBS kickers. He went 3-for-3 on field goals in three games, including both the season opener and the Gator Bowl, and topped those with a 4-for-4 performance against BYU."

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Last year, the 6’0″ 210-pound native of Nashville who came out of Fred J. Page High School in Franklin, Tenn. was named a semifinalist on Nov. 7. However, on Nov. 23, he missed two field goals at the Missouri Tigers due to bad snaps, which kept him from being a finalist, as that list was released on Monday, Nov. 25.

Georgia Bulldogs kicker Rodrigo Blankenship ended up taking home the award. Cimaglia, however, did earn Second Team All-SEC and had a higher percentage on field goals than Blankenship, including on attempts beyond 40 yards.

This year, even with Blankenship gone, Cimaglia is one of five SEC kickers on the preseason watch list. Joining him are Evan McPherson of the Florida Gators, AJ Reed of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Parker White of the South Carolina Gamecocks and Caleb York of the LSU Tigers.

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Last year’s finalist, Keith Duncan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Blake Mazza of the Washington State Cougars, are both on the list as well. Simply put, there’s a lot of competition for Cimaglia this year. However, he enters his senior year with lots more hype than Tennessee football kickers have in the past.

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