Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada trying not to think about Lou Groza Award: 'I'm kinda superstitious'

Michigan Wolverines football junior kicker Dominic Zvada might be the team’s top-performing player, pound for pound. The 6-foot-3, 180-pounder is 13-of-14 on field goals and 19-of-20 on extra points, with his 58 total points leading the team.

The Arkansas State transfer has a big leg. Through only 10 games, he’s U-M’s career leader in 50-plus yard field goals, achieving that feat Nov. 9 at Illinois, when he drilled a 56-yarder — tying his career high and for the fourth-longest in Wolverine history.

Head coach Sherrone Moore has said multiple times this season that Zvada will let him know on the sideline that he’d be ready to fire from even longer if needed.

“I kinda tell him my line, and it’s usually the 35-yard line,” Zvada said. “Depending on where we’re at on the field and where we’re at in the game, I’ll go up and give our coordinator a nudge. But ultimately it’s their decision, so their decision is what we’ll go with and what I’ll stand by.”

There was a situation against the Hoosiers when Michigan decided to take a delay of game and punt after facing fourth down on the Indiana 42-yard line. If he would’ve been called upon, Zvada is confident he could’ve upped Michigan’s point total by three.

“I think so. I always like to think I can,” Zvada said.

Zvada has handled his transition well from Arkansas State to Michigan, and his experience in Ann Arbor has been what he thought it’d be.

“It’s been pretty similar to what I’ve expected — big crowds, hyped up games, loud games,” he said. “Everything that I came into the season expecting, I’ve pretty much gotten it.”

By the end of the year, he might get the Lou Groza Award, too, handed to the nation’s top place kicker. He’d become Michigan’s second-ever player to win it, joining Jake Moody in 2021.

“I try not to,” Zvada said of if he’s thought about the potential of winning the award. “I try to focus on myself. I’m kinda superstitious. I don’t like making celebrations during practice or planning things, because I just like to focus on the game and my craft and stuff like that.

“As boring as that sounds, I just try to stick to the fundamentals, because I know that ultimately if those are what I’m sticking to, things will come.”

Kickers have a unique job. Zvada has made a major impact on the team, yet he’s only been on the field for 35 snaps, including extra points, meaning he’s scored 1.66 points per snap. He has to make the most of his opportunities, meaning there’s a lot of pressure.

“They look at us differently, like everyone is so nervous when the kicker goes on the field,” Zvada said. “Especially for a game-winner and stuff like that, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh. There’s so much pressure.’

“But for a kicker, there’s going to be pressure — always — but they don’t really feel it quite as much as you’d think, because they know they’re ready for the moment and they’re confident in what they do and they’re gonna put it through.”

His mother, Jody Zvada, is a nervous wreck when he takes the field.

“I don’t like her telling me, because she’ll tell me as soon as I go out there, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so stressed. You’re gonna …’ I don’t even know,” Zvada said. “They get nervous, but they’re always really happy for me after the games, regardless of what happens.”

Zvada has been clutch under pressure this season, including on some big kicks in the second half. It’s impossible for Michigan to simulate those during practice.

“That’s the biggest thing is you ultimately can’t simulate 110,000 people screaming at you or the people waving [towels] or things like that,” he noted. “But what you can do is just get a big speaker and put it in your ear and start yelling at you. So that’s what we do, especially when we’re going on road games, we’ll just grab a big JBL and put it right behind me and blast crowd noise and stuff like that.”