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Blake Grupe GROOP-ee;[1] (born November 5, 1998) is an American professional football placekicker for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arkansas State Red Wolves and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was signed by the Saints as an undrafted free agent after the 2023 NFL draft.
| No. 19 – New Orleans Saints | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Placekicker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | November 5, 1998 Sedalia, Missouri, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 156 lb (71 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Smith-Cotton (Sedalia, Missouri) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Arkansas State (2017–2021) Notre Dame (2022) | ||||||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 8, 2024 | |||||||||||||||
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Blake Grupe was born on November 5, 1998.[2] He attended Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Missouri, and was a three-sport athlete, playing soccer, baseball and football, although he did not begin playing football until his sophomore year.[3] As a senior, he was named all-state in both football and soccer, setting the school's records for single-season and career field goals made.[3] He committed to play college football for the Arkansas State Red Wolves.[4]
As a true freshman at Arkansas State in 2017, Grupe redshirted.[3] The following year, he earned the starting placekicking job in week three and finished the season having converted 14-of-21 attempts, placing seventh in the Sun Belt Conference.[3] In 2019, Grupe made 19-of-22 field goal attempts and was named first-team all-conference as well as a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award as best placekicker nationally; his 110 total points scored set a school record for kickers and was second-best in the conference, additionally being the 13th-best total in the United States.[5][6]
In 2020, Grupe went 11-of-18 on field goals and made 43 extra points.[6][7] In his final year at Arkansas State, 2021, he made 20-of-25 field goals and all but one of his 32 extra point attempts.[8] He holds several school records, including career extra points made (162), career field goals made (64) and career points scored (354).[9] Grupe transferred to Notre Dame for his final season of eligibility in 2022.[10] He went 14-of-19 on field goals and made all 49 of his extra point attempts in his lone year with the team.[11]
College statistics
| Year | Team | GP | Overall FGs | PATs | Total points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lng | FGA | FGM | Pct | XPA | XPM | Pct | ||||
| 2017 | Arkansas State | 0 | DNP | |||||||
| 2018 | Arkansas State | 11 | 47 | 21 | 14 | 66.7 | 38 | 35 | 92.1 | 77 |
| 2019 | Arkansas State | 13 | 46 | 22 | 19 | 86.4 | 54 | 53 | 98.1 | 110 |
| 2020 | Arkansas State | 11 | 42 | 18 | 11 | 61.1 | 45 | 43 | 95.6 | 76 |
| 2021 | Arkansas State | 12 | 50 | 25 | 20 | 80.0 | 32 | 31 | 96.9 | 91 |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 13 | 47 | 19 | 14 | 73.7 | 49 | 49 | 100.0 | 91 |
| Career | 60 | 50 | 105 | 78 | 74.3 | 218 | 211 | 96.8 | 445 | |
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After going unselected in the 2023 NFL draft, Grupe was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent.[13] In the first preseason game, he made the game-winning field goal against the Kansas City Chiefs.[14] He competed with veteran Wil Lutz for a spot on the team and won the position battle.[15][16][17]
In Week 3 of the 2023 season, Grupe missed a 46-yard go-ahead field goal against the Green Bay Packers, resulting in a Saints loss.[18] In Week 5, Grupe was named National Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after completing four extra points, two 50+ yard field goals, and recording five touchbacks on seven kickoffs in a 34–0 win over the New England Patriots.[19] As a rookie, he converted all 40 extra point attempts and 30 of 37 field goal attempts.[20]
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