Haag Among Finalists For Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award
UW-Oshkosh sophomore Jaydon Haag has been named among the 12 finalists for the 2019 Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award, which recognizes the top collegiate placekicker on the field and in the community across NCAA's Division I Football Championship Series, Division II and Division III along with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Haag scored a team-leading 63 points this season, converting each of his 12 field goals and 27 of 30 extra points.
The winner of the 2019 Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award will be announced in mid-December.
Haag hit a pair of field goals against UW-Stout on Oct. 5, providing the decisive points by splitting the uprights from 42 yards out with 8:49 remaining in the Titans' 26-23 victory. He also made two field goals against UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 12, UW-River Falls on Nov. 9 and UW-Whitewater on Nov. 16. Haag connected on three field goals longer than 40 yards, including a season-best 49-yarder that capped the scoring during the Titans' 27-20 upset win over third-ranked UW-Whitewater.
Haag, who took over field goal kicking duties during UW-Oshkosh's fourth game of the year, also went 6-for-6 on extra points against Huntingdon College (Ala.) on Sept. 21 and converted each his four point-after attempts versus both UW-River Falls and Central College (Iowa) on Nov. 23. Haag's 10 points against UW-River Falls were a season high.
The 10 finalists for the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award include FCS players Luis Aguilar from Northern Arizona University, Grayson Atkins from Furman University (Ala.), Drew Bevelhimer from Butler University (Ind.); Mitchell Fineran from Samford University (Ala.) and Elijah Ruiz from Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas); Division II players Dante Brown from Fort Hays State (Kansas), Danny Laudet from Concordia University, St. Paul (Minn.) and McLean Robertson from Wingate University (N.C.); and Division III players Jon Alberts from Central College, Jaime Pogue from Hardin-Simmons University (Texas) and Sam Thoreen from Hamilton College (N.Y.).
The Fred Mitchell Outstanding Placekicker Award is in its 11th year. Roland Alcobenda from FCS member Eastern Washington University won the award last season.
The award's namesake, a longtime Chicago Tribune sports columnist, was a placekicker at Wittenberg University (Ohio) and was inducted into the American Kicking Hall of Fame in 2013.