10 for 10: Oregon Kicker Aidan Schneider Will Win Lou Groza Award

Welcome to our newest series “10 for 10,” which will help us countdown to kick off. The Ducks are just four days away from opening day vs Southern Utah at Autzen Stadium. For the next 10 days, we will be posting our projections for the upcoming season.

Let’s get started, here is the No. 4 projection of the 2017 season:

#4 - AIDAN SCHNEIDER WILL BE THE BEST KICKER IN AMERICA

The senior from Grant High School in Portland is ready for his final season of college football. Aidan Schneider enters the 2017 season as the most accurate kicker in Oregon history. The last two years he has led the Ducks in points scored (133, 69).

In 2016, Schneider was 42-for-43 on extra points (97 percent) and 9-for-12 on field goals (75 percent). Nevertheless, it was the lowest scoring season of his career.

As a sophomore, Schneider tallied the most points in the Pac-12 with his 133-point barrage. He led the Pac-12 in points (133), extra point attempts (67), extra points made (67), and field goal percentage (97 percent).

Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images

He missed his first extra point attempt since his freshman year in Southern California last season vs USC. It snapped a streak of 102 consecutive successful extra point conversions.

Schneider was honored for his remarkable 2015 campaign with the Vlade Award, All-American 3rd Team, Pac-12 All-Conference 1st Team and he was a Lou Groza Award Watch List member.

THE AARON JUDGE RULING

This season, Schneider will finally collect the hardware he deserves as the nation’s best kicker. He will place the Lou Groza Award in his trophy case after a season that witnesses a Pac-12 kicker win the honor for a third straight year. Last season, Zane Gonzalez from Arizona State received the award after his historic campaign. In 2015, UCLA’s Ka'imi Fairbairn edged out Schneider for the hardware. Portland’s finest will drill 19-of-20 field goal attempts, including 4-for-4 from beyond 40 yards this season. He will make all 63 extra point attempts, including one fake kick that he throws for a first down. Overall, Schneider will amass 120 total points on his way to the Pac-12 Conference 1st Team, as well as a 1st Team All-American selection. The Lou Groza Award winner will then head off to greener pastures in the National Football League for the next decade or two.

Part 8 of 10 for 10 will be published on Wednesday, right here at ATQ!

Stay tuned, if you want to; Twitter @TheQuackFiend Gram @eugene_levys_eyebrows