South Dakota sophomore Will Leyland and UNI senior Matthew Cook are two of the 10 finalists for the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award which celebrates excellence on the field and in the community.
 
There are five finalists from the FCS level. Three hail from NCAA Division III and there is one each representing NAIA and NJCAA. The recipient will be announced on Friday morning on the Mully and Haugh show.
 
Leyland, who grew up in Souderton, Pennsylvania, is the only FCS kicker who has yet to miss a kick this season. He added two more field goals in Saturday’s win to improve to 12-for-12 on the year and is 36-for-36 on extra points. Highlights include a 50-yarder against top-ranked South Dakota State and a walk-off, 41-yard field goal to beat nationally-ranked Youngstown State.
 
Leyland has also contributed more than 1,000 hours of community service, many of which came in pursuit of becoming an Eagle Scout. His Eagle Scout project was for his local pool where he swam and coached the summer swim team throughout high school. It consisted of 250 unpaid man hours. The project restored the frames of seven, three-level benches.
 
Cook, meanwhile, finished the year with a perfect PAT percentage with 31-31 kicks going through the uprights.  He also scored on 19 of 21 field goal attempts with a long of 50 yards.  The Cedar Falls, Iowa native finished his career perfect from the PAT mark with 155 of 155 kicks.

The Fred Mitchell Award was first presented in 2009. Fred Mitchell is a long-time Chicago Tribune sports columnist who enjoyed a distinguished career as one of the nation’s first prominent small-college place-kicking specialists at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

 
Top 10 finalists
Lake Barrett, Wooster
Caden Bonoffski, William & Mary
Christian Casillas, DuPage
Matthew Cook, UNI
Jacob Laurent, Carroll
Will Leyland, South Dakota
Richard McCollum, Western Carolina
Kyle Ramsey, Abilene Christian
Landon Reeves, Ottawa
Michael Stack, Wisconsin-La Crosse