Alleman, Baer on watch list for the Lou Groza Award
LSU senior place-kicker Drew Alleman and Louisiana-Lafayette place-kicker Brett Baer are among 30 players who have been named to the watch list for the Lou Groza Award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Wednesday.
Alleman was a 2011 semifinalist for the Groza Award last year. He enters this season as the most accurate kicker in LSU history with a field-goal percentage of .889.
Baer, also a Groza semifinalist in 2011, is one of 30 kickers on the list.
He was 18-for-20 (.900) on field goal attempts and 46-for-50 on extra points. He enters the 2012 season having made 11 straight field goal attempts, three short of Mike Shafer’s school record, which was set in 1974.
Baer made two field goals as time expired to give UL victories last year, including a career-long 50-yard kick in a 32-30 win over San Diego State in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Wing makes Ray Guy list
LSU sophomore punter Brad Wing was named to the Ray Guy Award preseason watch list, the Augusta Sports Council announced Wednesday.
Wing was a 2011 semifinalist for the award that honors the nation’s top collegiate punter, and he is one of 25 players named to the initial watch list, including four other punters from Southeastern Conference teams.
Wing represents LSU’s first selection to the Ray Guy Award watch list since Chris Jackson in 2006.
Wing excelled as a redshirt freshman last season, averaging 44.4 yards a punt on the way to earning first-team All-America honors from The Associated Press.
His 44.4-yard average is the fourth-best single-season mark in LSU history. Twenty-seven of his 59 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, including 13 punts inside the 10-yard line.
Demons trainer to retire
NATCHITOCHES — Northwestern State head athletic trainer Ed Evans, whose service to student-athletes spanned five decades as he became a leader in the sports-medicine profession statewide, is retiring.
He will be honored at a reception in Prather Coliseum on July 26.
Evans succeeded the iconic Eugene Christmas as the Demons’ head trainer in 1989. During his tenure, the university’s corps of athletes nearly doubled, largely due to the expansion of women’s sports.
Evans arrived at Northwestern as a graduate assistant under Christmas from 1979-82.
He spent the next seven years as athletic trainer at Natchitoches Central High School before stepping into Christmas’ shoes during the summer of 1989.
NCAA grants Sims waiver
CHARLOTTESVILLE, V a . — Former Alabama quarterback Phillip Sims has been granted a waiver to play at Virginia this season.
The school says it was informed by the NCAA of the decision Wednesday.
Sims, who was among the highest rated quarterbacks in the country coming out of Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake in 2010. He had a 48-4 record and set state records with 10,725 yards passing and 119 touchdown passes.
He played in eight games as a redshirt freshman at Alabama in 2011, then transferred to Virginia in May.
Coach Mike London says he is pleased to have the matter resolved. Sims, who has three years of eligibility remaining, should be able to compete for the starting job.