Junior kicker Mateen Bhaghani from the UCLA football team has been named to the 2025 Lou Groza College Place-Kicker Award watch list, according to an announcement by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.
Bhaghani is the first UCLA player to be included on the Groza Watch List since JJ Molson in 2018. The award recognizes the top place-kicker in college football each year. Two former Bruins, Ka’imi Fairbairn (2015) and Kai Forbath (2009), have previously won the honor.
A San Diego native, Bhaghani will begin his second season as UCLA’s starting kicker in 2025. In the previous season, he made 20 out of 24 field goal attempts, achieving an accuracy rate of 83.3 percent, and was successful on all 20 point-after-touchdown tries. His total of 20 field goals led the Big Ten Conference at the end of the regular season. He also kicked a 57-yard field goal against Iowa on November 7, which was the longest by a Big Ten kicker in 2024 and ranked second in UCLA history behind Fairbairn’s 60-yarder in 2015.
Bhaghani secured his role as starter after a strong performance during the season opener at Hawai’i in 2024, making all three field goal attempts including a game-winning kick from 32 yards out in the final minute. This effort earned him Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Throughout the season, he made multiple field goals in eight games, including each of UCLA’s last five contests.
The Lou Groza Award watch list features just 30 kickers nationwide. The Groza Committee will select 20 semifinalists on November 18 and announce three finalists on November 25. The winner will be revealed December 12 during the Home Depot College Football Awards broadcast on ESPN.
The award is named for NFL Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played for the Cleveland Browns for over two decades and won four NFL championships with them. He was recognized as NFL Player of the Year in 1954 and contributed both as a kicker and offensive lineman.
The Lou Groza Award is part of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which includes some of college football’s most prominent awards and has honored more than 950 recipients since its founding in 1935.
