Michigan football Big Ten awards roundup: Dominic Zvada named kicker of the year, more honors
The Big Ten Conference announced its annual awards for football on Tuesday afternoon with plenty of Michigan Wolverines represented. The headlining honor went to junior kicker Dominic Zvada winning the league’s kicker of the year award.
Zvada, who was a first-team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media, finished the regular season 17-of-18 on field goal attempts and 7-for-7 on attempts from 50-plus yards, including one in Saturday’s 13-10 upset win over the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Zvada also made 25 of his 26 extra point attempts on the year after transferring in from Arkansas State.
“He’s the man. He’s an absolute animal,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said after Saturday’s win. “Just a great kicker. Great dude. He’s been a great addition to the team. I hope I can keep him for another year. He might go to the NFL; so I’m going to try and keep him. But he’s really good.”
Zvada joins Jake Moody as the Michigan kickers to bring home the award after Moody did it twice in 2021-22. However, Zvada was not named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award like this predecessor.
In the rest of the awards, junior defensive tackle Mason Graham was the lone Wolverine to take home first-team All-Big Ten honors by both the coaches and media. He finished the season with 45 tackles, 7 of which came for a loss. His defensive linemates – tackle Kenneth Grant and EDGE Josaiah Stewart – were named second-team All-Big Ten performers by the coaches and media. Classmate and cornerback Will Johnson also grabbed a second-team nod despite missing 6 games this season.
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On offense, junior tight end Colston Loveland was a second-team All-Big Ten pick, losing out to Penn State’s Tyler Warren for first-team honors. Running back Kalel Mullings and offensive guard Josh Priebe made third-team All-Big Ten by the media. Long snapper Will Wager was a first-team All-Big Ten performer on special teams, joining Zvada.
Around the league, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel was named offensive player of the year with Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson taking home running back of the year honors and Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith winning wide receiver of the year and freshman of the year. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti was named the conference’s coach of the year after an 11-1 season, which included a 20-15 win over Michigan.
Here is the full rundown of the Michigan players singled out by the Big Ten.
Michigan players in the Big Ten Award
TE Colston Loveland — 2nd team
RB Kalel Mullings — 3rd team
OL Josh Priebe — 3rd team
OL Myles Hinton — Honorable mention
OL Gio El-Hadi — Honorable mention
RB Donovan Edwards — Honorable mention
DL Mason Graham — 1st team
DL Kenneth Grant — 2nd team
CB Will Johnson — 2nd team
DE Josaiah Stewart — 2nd team
DE Derrick Moore — Hon. mention
LB Ernest Hausmann — Hon. mention
DB Zeke Berry — Hon. mention
K Dominic Zvada — 1st team
LS William Wagner — 1st team
PR Semaj Morgan — Honorable mention
