New Special Teams Coordinator Bob Ligashesky already has his first big recruiting win. Kicker Andre Szmyt will return to Syracuse football for the 2022 season, he announced on Saturday.. Ligashesky was officially announced by Syracuse Athletics on Thursday, and now the most productive kicker in Orange history is returning.
Previously, Szmyt participated in Senior Day festivities during the season finale, and it was announced that he would not return. The hiring Ligashesky may have changed his mind.
Szmyt is the program record holder in field goals made, the most accurate kicker in school history and the kicker who has scored the most points in program history. Szmyt won the Lou Groza Award in 2018, the first player in Syracuse history to win the award given annually to the nation's best kicker.
Not bad for someone who joined the program as a walk-on.
Szmyt may have come to Syracuse as a walk-on, but he won the starting placekicker job after Cole Murphy graduated. He quickly became a consistent weapon on special teams with his stellar rookie campaign in 2018. While Szmyt did not make as many in the years following, he still made a high percentage of his field goal attempts.
Following the 2021 season, Szmyt has made 159 of 163 extra points and 65 of 79 (82%) field goals during his career. During the 2018 Lou Groza Award winning year, Szmyt made 30 of 34 field goals, setting a school record for most field goals made in a single season. In total, Szmyt has racked up 354 points during his career including a program record 151 in 2018.
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