ATLANTA – From walk-on to the nation's best, Andre Szmyt won the 2018 Lou Groza Award.
 
He accepted the award, which is presented to the nation's top placekicker, live on ESPN during The Home Depot College Football Awards show at the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
Szmyt is the first Syracuse kicker to win the Groza Award and third freshman to do so, joining Arizona State's Thomas Weber (2007) and Florida State's Roberto Aguayo (2013).
 
Named for Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou "The Toe" Groza, the award has been presented annually to the best kicker in college football since 1992. Szmyt beat out fellow finalists Cooper Rothe (Wyoming) and Cole Tracy (LSU) in a national vote of college football experts to win the award.
 
An original walk-on, Szmyt leads the FBS in nearly every kicking category. He is No. 1 in the nation in field goals made (28), field goals attempted (32), field goals per game (2.33), and points per game (11.8). He is second in the country in scoring (141 points) and tied for eighth in the FBS in field-goal percentage (.875). His 141 points are a Syracuse record and rank third on the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season scoring list.

Szmyt is 21-for-22 from inside 40 yards and 3-for-3 from beyond 50 yards. He has also made all 57 of his point-after attempts this season.
 
Predominantly a soccer player in high school, Szmyt joined the Orange as a walk-on in 2017. After redshirting his first season, Szmyt won the starting placekicking job during preseason camp. He kicked two field goals in his debut on Aug. 31 at Western Michigan and started the year 16-for-17 to earn a scholarship after only six games. Szmyt kept up his torrid pace in the second half of the season and is only three field goals shy of national record of 31 set by Georgia's Billy Bennett in 2003.
 
Szmyt and the rest of the 17th-ranked Orange (9-3, 6-2 ACC) will square off against No. 15 West Virginia (8-3, 6-3 Big 12) in the 2018 Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Fla. on Friday, Dec. 28.