Penn State football placekicker Ryan Barker has been named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List, the team announced on Friday.

The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the nation’s top placekicker. Groza, the award’s namesake, had a successful 21-year kicking career with the Cleveland Browns from 1946 to 1967. Nicknamed “The Toe,” he left Ohio State after his freshman season to serve in the United States Army during WWII.

Barker has been clutch and nearly automatic for the Nittany Lions over the past two seasons. In 2025, he made 94.7% of his field goal attempts and scored 44 of 45 extra points.

The year prior, he kicked an overtime game-winning 36-yard field goal in the Los Angeles Coliseum to secure a Penn State comeback victory.

Over the course of his career in the blue and white, the junior holds an 89.2% field goal rate and has made 92 out of 94 PAT attempts. His career long is 49 yards.

Though several Nittany Lions have been named semifinalists of the Lou Groza Award, most recently Tyler Davis in 2016, no Penn Stater has ever won.