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Kenneth Almendares (born November 14, 1999) is a Honduran college football placekicker for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. He won the 2024 Lou Groza Award as the top kicker in college football.
| Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns – No. 45 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Placekicker |
| Class |  |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | November 14, 1999 San Pedro Sula, Honduras |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 252 lb (114 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | Louisiana (2018–present) |
| High school | Brazoswood (Clute, Texas) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Almendares was born on November 14, 1999, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.[1] His family is from Naco in the Cortés Department, and he moved with his parents to the U.S. at a young age.[2] He played soccer growing up before being introduced to football while attending Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas.[2][3] He became a placekicker in football and was a standout for the school, being named their special teams MVP three years in a row.[1] He was ranked the 48th-best kicker prospect nationally by Kohl's kicking and committed to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.[1]
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Almendares appeared in three games as a freshman at Louisiana in 2018, being used as a kickoff specialist.[3] He then was their main kickoff specialist in 2019, kicking 88 times for 5,319 yards.[3] He then was used more at placekicker during the 2020 season, converting all five of his field goal attempts and all 23 of his extra point attempts.[3] He appeared in four games in 2021, making four of five field goal attempts before missing the rest of the season due to injury.[1] He made 18 of 23 field goals and 23 of 24 extra points in 2022, being the team's scoring leader with 77 total points.[1]
In 2023, Almendares placed first on the team and ninth in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) with a total of 92 points, having made 14 of 16 field goals and 50 of 51 extra points.[1] As a senior in 2024, he broke the team and SBC record for single-season field goals, broke the SBC career field goals record and set the Louisiana records for career field goals, extra points and total points scored.[4] He finished the regular season having made 27 of 29 field goals, being a four-time SBC special teams player of the week and being named first-team All-SBC, first-team All-American and the Lou Groza Award winner for best kicker nationally.[5]
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