Elliott makes Groza list

Elliott makes Groza list

MEMPHIS – Senior kicker Jake Elliott was one of 30 players named to the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Watch List announced by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission Thursday. Elliott was a finalist for the same award last year and is joined by former fellow finalists Daniel Carlson (Auburn) and Josh Lambert (West Virginia) on this year's watch list.

Elliott, the defending, twotime American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year, comes in to his final season as a Tiger needing just 10 field goals and 45 points to tie the career records in both categories, marks both held by former Tiger and current New England Patriot Stephen Gostkowski.

In 2015, Elliott set a school record for most point-after kicks made, converting all 63 attempts to move to 144-of-144 for his career, also a school record.

Last year, Elliott led the team in scoring with 132 points, just missing DeAngelo Williams' single season mark of 138 for another school record. For his career, Elliott has scored 324 points, 38 points shy of Williams' career mark and 45 points shy of tying Gostkowski's career record.

A three-time, American Athletic Conference first team honoree, Elliott was also named a second team All-America honoree by the Walter Camp Football Foundation at the end of last season. He finished tied for eighth in the NCAA in scoring with 10.2 ppg. Boise State's Tyler Rausa was the country's leading scorer among place kickers last year with 10.3 ppg. Oregon's Aidan Schneider also averaged 10.2 ppg.

Elliott highlights a special teams unit that also returns first team all-conference honoree Spencer Smith at punter. Smith averaged 47.2 yards per punt last season on 43 attempts, but as Memphis split punting duties last year with fellow returnee Nick Jacobs (14 punts with 11 downed inside the 20), Smith did not meet the NCAA minimum of 3.6 punt attempts per game. If he had, his 47.2 yards per punt average would have ranked fifth in the country.

That unit and the rest of the Tigers will open camp on Aug. 3rd and will kick off the season on Sept. 3rd against Southeast Missouri State at 6 p.m. at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. That game is one of seven home games for Memphis in 2016. Season tickets for all of those games are available now starting at just $100. New this year is the availability of wider chair back seats along both sidelines. Those seats are also now on sale. Ticket information is available by calling 901-678-2331 or by shopping online at www.GoTigersGoTix.com.

Courtesy of UM Media Relations