When senior kicker Zane Gonzalez was recruited to play football for ASU, coach Todd Graham was reluctant to offer him a scholarship and did so only after Wisconsin reached out. On the first day of classes in his final season in Tempe, Gonzalez stands as one of the most prolific kickers in college football history.
Despite the lack of scholarship, Gonzalez said Graham pitched ASU as a place he could come challenge records, playing alongside the potent offense headlined by Taylor Kelly, Marion Grice and Jaelen Strong.
"Being recruited, coach Graham told me from the get-go that I had a chance to break some records," Gonzalez said. "He lived up to his word."
In the three seasons since, Gonzalez has taken advantage of his opportunities, amassing 386 points, enough for 36th place on the all-time scoring list. He also sits at 73 field goals made, just 16 behind the record set by Florida State's Dustin Hopkins. If Gonzalez's fourth season is an average of his first three, he will finish his career as just the third player ever to score 500 points, joining Navy's Keenan Reynolds and Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Dixon — both of whom completed the feat last season.
But don't remind him of those numbers.
"That's definitely in the back of my mind," Gonzalez said. "I don't like hearing about it and people telling me, but it's something little."
Gonzalez doesn't define himself by the raw numbers and gives the players around him credit for putting him in the position to score. There's also a lot more that needs to be done this season for Gonzalez, as he searches for more.
"I like to hold myself to high standards, that's the way I've been since I was a little kid," Gonzalez said. "I want to win the Groza. That's the one thing I set my goals on in high school and something I really wanted to do."
Gonzalez said he also has his sights set on a perfect season, something he did his senior year of high school in Texas.
But on Saturdays, it's all business for Gonzalez, worrying about the next one or three points instead of the previous hundreds.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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