Groza Watch List Has Tide’s Shelley

Jeremy Shelley is at a little bit of a disadvantage when it comes to consideration for the Lou Groza Award, presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding kicker. But the Crimson Tide “short guy” has made the list.

The watch lists for the two kicking awards in college football – the Lou Groza Award for placekickers and the Ray Guy Award for the nation’s most outstanding punter – were released Tuesday.

Alabama senior Jeremy Shelley is one of six Southeastern Conference players who were among the 30 named to the Lou Groza Watch List.

A list of 20 semifinalists will be released on Nov. 5, and three finalists will be announced on Nov. 19. A panel of more than 300 experts will select the 2012 Lou Groza Award winner, who will be announced on Dec. 6 in Orlando.

Shelley, a 5-10, 165-pound Charlotte, N.C., native, has been the Tide’s “short kicker” the past two years, handling primarily extra points and short field goal attempts. He occasionally is called upon for a long field goal try and had a 44-yard success last year. He is also used occasionally on kickoffs, but Cade Foster has been Bama’s primary man on long field goals and kickoffs.

Last year Shelley was good on 52-54 extra point kicks and 21-27 field goals for 115 points on the season, which ranked third in the SEC in scoring and second in kick scoring.

For his career, Shelley has made 103 of 106 extra point kicks and 33-42 field goals for 202 points.

Other SEC players on the list are:

Drew Alleman, senior, LSU; Zach Hocker, junior, Arkansas; Craig McIntosh, senior, Kentucky; Cody Parkey, junior, Auburn; and Caleb Sturgis, senior, Florida.

Sturgis and Dustin Hopkins of Florida State were 2011 finalists for the award and there are 16 other semifinalists from last season on the first watch list.

The Ray Guy Award for the best punter in the nation returns the defending champion in Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech and eight other semifinalists from last year

Tide punter Cody Mandell was not on the watch list.

The SEC also has five players of the 25 national candidates on the 2012 preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award. They are:

Dylan Breeding, junior, Arkansas; Tyler Campbell, junior, Ole Miss; Steven Clark, junior, Auburn; Richard Kent, senior,Vanderbilt; and Brad Wing, sophomore, LSU.