The best kicker for the 2024 college football season hails from Cajun Country. At the 2024 College Football Awards show on Thursday, Louisiana football’s Kenneth Almendares won the 2024 Lou Groza Award, earning him the title of the best college football kicker in the nation.
All year long, the fifth-year senior kicker has been a weapon in the Ragin’ Cajuns‘ back pocket as they knew when he took the field they would be coming away with some points. He finished the 2024 regular season making 27 out of 29 field goal attempts with his longest make coming from 53 yards out.
Along the way to near perfection, Almendares etched his name in UL history by breaking the school’s record for most career points scored by a kicker (362) and PATs (158) along with single-season records in field goals made and points. He finished the season on track to maintain a 90% average of makes, making it look easy on special teams.
Almendares has been racking up awards ever since the end of the regular season. He was recently named to The Athletic’s 2024 All-America football team, first-team Walter Camp All-America team and was named All-Sun Belt Conference first team. He also received weekly SBC honors throughout the season being named the West division special team’s Player of the Week four times this season.
Almendares is set to make his final appearance in for the Cajuns when they play in the Isleta New Mexico Bowl game vs TCU on Dec. 28.
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Shannon Belt covers high school sports and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at sbelt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: UL football’s Kenneth Almendares wins 2024 Lou Groza Award
