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A.J. Reed will enter his first and only season at Arkansas on the Lou Groza Award watch list.

The graduate transfer from Duke is one of 30 players on the watch list for the Groza Award, which is presented annually to the top kicker in college football.

The nod comes a year after he was named a semifinalist for the award, when he made 15 of 18 field goals for the Blue Devils. That included a perfect 2 of 2 on attempts of at least 50 yards, making him just one of six returning FBS kickers with multiple such kicks without a miss. He also made all 34 of his extra-point attempts.

Not only was it a breakout season for Reed, but it was also a dramatic turnaround from his first three years in Durham, N.C.

A scholarship signee in 2016, he made just 3 of 10 field goals and missed an extra point as a freshman. Injuries forced him to redshirt the following season and then he was used only on kickoffs in 2018.

Two other names on the Groza Award watch list that Arkansas fans might recognize are Washington State’s Blake Mazza and South Florida’s Jared Sackett.

Mazza, who was one of three finalists for the award last season, began his career with the Razorbacks as a walk-on in 2017 before transferring to Washington State and becoming a first-team All-Pac-12 selection.

Sackett was a two-time semifinalist for the award at UTSA before transferring to Arkansas last season. He had to sit out because of NCAA transfer rules and ended up following former special teams quality control coach Daniel Da Prato to South Florida.

Neither of those kickers ever appeared in a game at Arkansas.

The Razorbacks have now had two players land on preseason watch lists this summer. Reed joins running back Rakeem Boyd, who made the Doak Walker Award watch list last week.