TAT: Hocker Not Named A Groza Semifinalist

This article originally appeared in the November 6, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

The semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which honors the best college kicker in the country, were announced Monday, but Arkansas’ kicker was wrongly left off the list, head coach Bret Bielema said at his weekly Monday press conference.

Senior Zach Hocker is 9-for-10 on field goal attempts this season, with his only miss being blocked against No. 1 Alabama. He is also 20-for-20 on extra-point attempts.

“It irritates me,” Bielema said. “I’m not saying he should be in the top five or top 10, but he should be in the top 20.”

Three weeks ago, Bielema said he told his communication staff to reach out to the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, the organization that selects the finalists. However, Hocker was still not chosen as one of the top 20 kickers in the country.

When the list came out, Bielema asked for the statistics of the 20 kickers, which seem to strengthen his argument.

Hocker’s 90 percent field goal percentage would rank ninth among the semifinalists. If it wasn’t for the blocked field goal against the Crimson Tide, he would be one of four kickers that haven’t missed an attempt.

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That is also 13.5 percentage points better than Tulane’s Cairo Santos, who is only 13-for-17. Santos won the award last year and is one of the 20 semifinalists this year.

His 53-yard field goal against Samford is tied for the seventh longest in the FBS this season and would be tied for the third longest among the semifinalists.

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On top of the field goals, Hocker has performed well in other areas of the kicking game as well, Bielema said.

He leads the FBS with a 64.94-yard kickoff average and has also put 69.44 percent of his kickoffs into the end zone for a touchback, which is sixth in the FBS.

“He’s phenomenal,” Bielema said. “You’re going to have a hard time telling me he’s not one of the best two kickers in college football. He brings so much to the table.”

Despite not being named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, Bielema said that he has been in contact with Senior Bowl officials and NFL scouts, so Hocker should receive some postseason recognition.

“Everything we ask him to do, he delivers,” Bielema said.