Montaño Garners CUSA Special Teams Player of the Week Honors

Pair of kicks leads to weekly award for Aggie placekicker.

Source: NMSU Athletics
Photo By Eric Espada for NMSU: Courtesy

Aggie kicker Abraham Montaño has been on a different level this season and following yet another standout performance last Tuesday, he was recognized as the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week.

The award comes following a Tuesday night outing at FIU in which he connected on field goal attempts from 57 yards out and 53 yards out. The 57-yard kick off the left foot of the Salinas, Calif., native in the second quarter etched his name into Aggie football history as it matches the longest kick in program history – tying a kick from Andy Weiler who also made a kick of this distance against UNLV on Sept. 15, 1984.

This is also tied for the fourth-longest kick made in the history of CUSA and represents the longest kick in the league since 2012. Additionally, it is tied for the 10^th-longest field goal from any FBS kicker this season.

Later in the second quarter, Montaño split the uprights from 53 yards away to pull the Aggies within one point just before the end of the first half. With this kick, Montaño became the first Aggie kicker since 1978 to have two kicks of 50+ yards in a single game. He also became just the second FBS kicker this season to make two kicks of 50 or more yards in a single game this season – joining Florida State’s Ryan Fitzgerald who made a 59-yarder and a 52-yarder versus Georgia Tech on Aug. 24.

In addition to his pair of field goals, Montaño made his lone PAT kick which brings his season mark to 13-of-13 through eight games.

On the year, Montaño is now 12-of-13 on field goal attempts to rank tied for 10^th in the nation in field goal percentage at 92.3%. As it stands, Montaño is on the brink of having a historic season for the Aggies. Currently, Montaño’s percentage would rank second for a single season in program history. Standing behind only Nick Cecava who finished the 1998 season 13-of-14 to post a 92.9 field goal percentage.

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Levi Gwaltney

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