<figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-121656">Cooper Rothe (UW Athletics photo)(Editor’s note: UW Athletics release)
LARAMIE, Wyo. – Wyoming place-kicker Cooper Rothe was one of three finalists for the 2018 Lou Groza Award as a junior, and now as he enters his senior season he has been named to the 2019 Groza Award Watch List.
Rothe has already been named a 2019 Second Team Preseason All-American by Sporting News, a Third Team Preseason All-American by Athlon Sports and a Fourth Team Preseason All-American by Phil Steele Publications.
The Longmont, Colo., native is coming off a 2018 season that saw him become the first Wyoming Cowboy to be named a finalist for the Groza Award, which honors the nation’s top collegiate place-kicker. The finalists were honored at the 27th Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet in West Palm Beach Fla., and were also highlighted during the 2018 Home Depot College Football Awards show that aired live from the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Ga..
He was also named the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year in 2018 and earned First Team All-Mountain West honors. Earlier this week, Rothe was named to the 2019 Mountain West Preseason All-Conference Team and was voted as the Preseason MW Special Teams Player of the Year.
Rothe concluded the 2018 season ranked No. 1 in the nation in field-goal percentage, making 94.1 percent of his field-goal attempts (16 of 17). He tied for the No. 1 spot in the country in point-after-touchdown percentage as he was a perfect 28 of 28 in PATs during the 2018 season. He was one of the keys to Wyoming earning bowl eligibility for the third consecutive season, and he helped the Cowboys finish the regular season on a four-game winning streak.
He will enter his senior season with 44 career field goals, which ranks him No. 4 among all returning active Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players in the nation in made field goals. Rothe has scored 260 career points, ranking him No. 4 on the Wyoming school scoring list. He needs 64 more points to tie Wyoming’s all-time leader Sean Fleming, who scored 324 points as a place-kicker from 1988-91. Rothe also needs only 13 more made field goals to tie Fleming for the UW career record of 57 made field goals. Over the past two seasons, Rothe has successfully converted an amazing 31 of 35 (88.6 percent) field-goal attempts. He has started every game of his college career, beginning with the very first game of his true freshman season of 2016 through the final regular-season game of 2018 — 39 consecutive starts.
On top of his athletic achievements, Rothe earned Academic All-Mountain West honors for the third consecutive season in 2018. He is majoring in finance.
