Fred Mitchell Award recognizes placekickers for excellence — 2025 Midseason Watch List

The Fred Mitchell Award recognizes 38 placekickers for their excellence on the football field throughout the first half of the 2025 season.

The Fred Mitchell Award recognizes kickers that were nominated by their schools or are at the top of their division for terrific performances through October 11, 2025. The recipient of the Fred Mitchell Award will be announced in December based on performance on the football field and in the community.

The namesake for the award, Fred Mitchell, was a longtime (1974-2015) award-winning sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of 12 sports books. Mitchell set the NCAA record for career kick-scoring at Wittenberg University in 1968 among “College Division” schools that are now classified as FCS, Division II and Division III.

“Our mid-season Watch List includes several kickers who are having exceptional years in terms of both field goal accuracy and distance. Not to mention late-game clutch performances,” said Fred Mitchell. “We also value community service as an essential part of the criteria for choosing a winner, and that might very well be the determining factor at the end of this 2025 season.”

The breakdown of the 38 place-kickers is as follows:

• Collegiate Division – 19 FCS, 7 Division II, 6 Division III, 3 NAIA, 1 NJCAA, and 2 3C2A

In alphabetical order, the Fred Mitchell Award Mid-season nominees for the 2025 season are listed below — NOMINEE STATS THROUGH OCT. 11.

Seth Adams
University of Wisconsin–Whitewater – DIII

Harry Balke
Drake University – FCS

Luke Barnes
Elon University – FCS

Iden Bone
Whitworth University – DIII

Andrew Brown
North Carolina A&T State University – FCS

Nico Cavanillas
South Carolina State University – FCS

Antonio Chadha
Western Illinois University – FCS

Connor Fournier
Minnesota State University, Mankato – DII

Brysen Gardner
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley – FCS

Lane Garner
Butte College – 3C2A

Logan Grwinski
Albion College – DIII

Ethan Hess
St. Olaf College – DIII

Levi Hilborn
Louisiana Christian University – NAIA

Samuel Hunsaker
Northern Arizona University – FCS

Marko Jovisic
Mississippi Valley State University – FCS

Dieter Kelly
College of San Mateo – 3C2A

Matt Kling
Sacred Heart University – FCS

Andrew Lastovka
Youngstown State University – FCS

Stephen Leinen
Dordt University – NAIA

Will Leyland
University of South Dakota – FCS

Matt Maldonado
Illinois State University – FCS

Brandon McCary
Minot State University – DII

Jared Navidad
Hudson Valley Community College – NJCAA

Eli Ozick
North Dakota State University – FCS

Harry Radcliffe
PennWest California (California University of Pennsylvania) – DII

Bleu Renfrow
William Jewell College – DII

Ozlo Rigby
Texas A&M University–Commerce – FCS

Brody Rucker
Wabash College – DIII

Layne Ryals
Missouri University of Science and Technology – DII

Trajan Sinatra
Idaho State University – FCS

Michael Stack
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse – DIII

Brett Starling
Hampton University – FCS

Jimmy Tran
Savannah State University – DII

Samuel Tremblay
University of Maine – FCS

Ian Vachon
University of North Alabama – FCS

David Weber
Central Washington University – DII

Caden Williams
Towson University – FCS