Aug. 16, 2006

LAS VEGAS - UNLV junior Sergio Aguayo is one of 30 players on the 2006 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Preseason Watch List.

Aguayo (San Jacinto, Calif.) heads into his third season as the Rebels' place-kicker and second as the team's kickoff man. Along with being named preseason All-Mountain West Conference, he was voted by members of the league's media as the preseason MWC Special Teams Player of the Year.

A two-time conference special teams player of the week, Aguayo has made 48 of 49 career extra-point attempts and hit 23 of 31 all-time field goal attempts. He also made two game-winning three-pointers his sophomore season as his two 52-yard field goals late in the fourth quarter helped defeat San Diego State and his 41-yarder as time expired pushed UNLV past Idaho.

Aguayo was ranked the No. 9 kicker in all of college football by Sporting News and is on target to own every kicking record in school history.

A panel of over 300 experts vote on the honor, including Division I-A head coaches, sportswriters and sportscasters, conference representatives, professional kickers and all previous Groza Award finalists.

The 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award will be announced Nov. 7 and the three finalists two weeks later on Nov. 21. The finalists will be honored during the Groza Award banquet on Dec. 5, at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott in Florida. The winner will be announced two days later during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show in Orlando.

The award, now in its 15th year, is named for NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns.