NCAA kickers who should already be on the 2027 NFL Draft radar

Because so few NFL teams carry multiple kickers on their active rosters, the field gets whittled down rather significantly when entering the professional ranks. Couple that with league-wide reticence to spend draft capital on the position — a trend amplified by busts like Roberto Aguayo and Jake Moody — and it becomes rather difficult to identify the kicking stars of the future while they're still playing on Saturdays.

We're trying to change that.

As part of FanSided's larger KVA project, first introduced in a ranking of every kicker from the 2025 NFL season, I've gone back to college, metaphorically speaking, and analyzed over 27,000 field-goal attempts and all extra-point data from 2015 to the present. The resulting KVA calculations and analytical studies help identify draft-eligible amateurs who are most likely to ply their trades on Sundays. Let's bring them to your attention early.

Key gates for the college-to-NFL kicking path

Plenty of kickers are "good" during their collegiate careers. Far fewer are the type of "good" that lends itself to future NFL success.

Of the 83 kickers who have recorded at least one NFL field-goal attempt since the start of the 2020 campaign, 52 had NCAA kick data available in our sample. The remaining 31 either last kicked in college before 2015 or took an alternate path to the NFL, whether through FCS play, the UFL, the CFL, Gaelic football, or other routes entirely.

At the highest level, that means only 52 of the 573 completed collegiate careers with 10-plus field-goal attempts resulted in even the tiniest, half-full cup of coffee in the NFL. But those 52 stood out in a few areas. Keep that base rate of 9.1 percent in mind because it's what determines the lift of each statistical band.

First: career KVA, which, while by no means flawless, is the single biggest predictor of an NFL future:

Ten of the 12 collegiate kickers who cleared 30 KVA made it to the NFL, and the two exceptions could technically still move that number further in the positive direction. Jonah Dalmas (44.22 KVA) finished his Boise State career in 2024 and is currently playing for the UFL's Columbus Aviators, though Christopher Dunn (37.29 KVA) went undrafted in 2023 and is likely running out of chances after last playing for the UFL's San Antonio Brahmas in 2024.

Again, this isn't a perfect predictor. Though prospects start to receive significant lift after reaching 20 career KVA, which we'll call the first of the two official gates, eight kickers finished their amateur days with negative scores and still made it to the next level. That includes Spencer Shrader and Lucas Havrisik, both of whom entered 2026 training camp in job battles (Havrisik already lost).

Of course, the other primary gate, career-long made field goal, isn't perfect either.

This time, it's not the top end that's most interesting, but rather the near-disqualifications that happen toward the bottom. Kickers who never make 50-yarders are basically ineligible for NFL consideration, with only four exceptions emerging.

Nick Sciba topped out at 49 yards at Wake Forest but logged two career field-goal attempts for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022. He's also a tale of extreme accuracy over a full career superseding distance parameters, which feels increasingly unlikely to be repeated as kicking range increases. Sciba converted a whopping 80 of his 89 field-goal attempts, overcoming a 32.34-yard average make distance to post 40.29 career KVA, trailing only Dalmas (44.22), Will Reichard (45.21), and Daniel Carlson (47.10) since 2015.

Jude McAtamney (49), Chris Naggar (48), and Tristan Vizcaino (44) are the other exceptions, but all enjoyed unique circumstances. McAtamney came through the International Player Pathway, Naggar spent just one season kicking at SMU, and Vizcaino toiled through five years on practice squads before reaching the league.

Other important factors exist and should be considered — namely, average distance of made field goals and average distance of attempted field goals — but prospects' longest NCAA field goal and career KVA tend to be the strongest indicator. If a player has never hit from at least 54 yards and hasn't accumulated positive value, he's fighting an uphill battle. Conversely, 17 of the 28 (60.7%) who have made that type of long-range boot and submitted at least 20 career KVA have made it to the NFL.

Four current collegiate kickers have already met those qualifications, and another eight have shown off enough of a leg to merit at least some degree of 2027 consideration.

The 4 locks for 2027 NFL Draft consideration

1. Tate Sandell, Oklahoma

44-of-52 FGs; 72-of-73 PATs; 24.18 career KVA, 55-yard career long, 40.59-yard average make

Of the 120 FBS kickers who enter 2026 with at least one made field goal, just 11 have an average career make of at least 40 yards. Ten have joined the exclusive fraternity with a combined 30 made field goals, but Tate Sandell has done so while drilling 44 of his 52 attempts. That type of consistent excellence is literally unprecedented since 2015. Though Joshua Karty (39.96 yards on 51 makes) and Ben Sauls (39.83 yards on 52 makes) both came within a whisker, no one else has met both thresholds.

While the lack of reliance on chip shots gives Sandell quite the resume as he enters his second season at Oklahoma (his fifth collegiate go-round), it's not even the most impressive part. He's improved every year, posting -0.67 KVA as a redshirt freshman at UTSA, 6.73 KVA as a sophomore, and 18.11 KVA while spending 2025 under the brighter lights provided by the Sooners.

The reigning Lou Groza Award winner may have struggled under the brightest of those lights, missing from 36 and 51 in Oklahoma's first-round CFP loss to Alabama, but he made 24 straight at one point in the season and sent it straight on eight of his nine tries from 50-plus. Even if he stagnates, he's coming off a season that would've likely already resulted in hearing his name called at the National Mall.

2. Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss

58-of-66 FGs; 144-of-146 PATs; 26.48 career KVA, 58-yard career long, 37.24-yard average make

Going 5-of-5 from 54-plus tends to send a pretty strong signal to NFL scouts, and that's exactly what Lucas Carneiro did during his junior season at Ole Miss, immediately endearing himself to the Rebels after transferring away from Western Kentucky. Couple that with a 31-of-35 showing (misses from 37, 47, 51, and 51), and you finish with 16.31 KVA and a silver medal in the metric.

Carneiro's mental game seems sharpened, too. He went 9-of-10 in the CFP, including 55- and 56-yard boots in a 39-34 Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia. Both would've been good from 60 with room to spare, and he wasn't done there. With the score knotted and nine seconds left on the clock, he shrugged off a dangerously close rush from the right side and put a 47-yarder right down the center for a W. (And that one might've been good from 60, too.)

Perception would be even higher had he connected on a 51-yarder while down four in the third quarter of the Fiesta Bowl, but 1) he had already made from 58 and 2) he's still coming off a year that would've resulted in surefire NFL consideration.

3. Peyton Woodring, Georgia

59-of-67 FGs; 173-of-173 PATs; 28.5 career KVA, 55-yard career long, 36.1-yard average make

Peyton Woodring is the active leader in career KVA. He's made 173 extra points with nary a miss. He's given Georgia fans a sense of unshakable calm whenever he steps onto the field — quite the rarity for even a collegiate fanbase with a rich history at the position.

Barring a collapse during his senior season, that's all enough for Woodring to be a fixture on NFL draft boards. But his lack of 50-yard conversions and meager average make distance prevent him from rising above Carneiro and Sandell, both of which are solvable with a different Bulldog approach in 2026.

Though Woodring has passed the distance gate with a 55-yard field goal, he hasn't received many opportunities in the 50s. He made from 50, 51, and 53 but missed from 55 in the Sugar Bowl during the 2025 season. In 2024, he went 3-of-5, including his career-best 55-yarder. As a freshman, he missed a 50-yarder and only tried one other kick from outside 45 yards.

Woodring has earned enough faith from the Bulldogs that he should certainly get some chances to change that narrative as a senior.

4. John Love, Virginia Tech

54-of-64 FGs; 114-of-114 PATs; 20.9 career KVA, 60-yard career long, 35.91-yard average make

John Love's 2023 and 2024 seasons are doing a lot of heavy lifting. He combined for 19.18 KVA those years before going 15-of-20 for just 3.12 KVA as a junior. Missing from 45, 45, 49, 54, and 59 cancels out quite a bit of the positive value earned from 15 makes, especially when 11 of them came from within 40 yards.

That reliance on chip shots attaches a question mark to the 60-yarder he snuck over the crossbar against Minnesota in 2024. He's just 4-of-6 on 50-yarders otherwise.

But the signals are the signals. Love has hit from 60 (and 57 and 56). He has posted 20.9 career KVA with little reason to believe he'll stop adding to that tally. And that's saying nothing of his perfection on extra points.

Love lurks in relative anonymity after the trio at the top, but the numbers, as they say, don't lie.

The primary challengers for 2027 NFL Draft consideration

5. Brock Taylor, Vanderbilt

31-of-35 FGs; 99-of-101 PATs; 16.56 career KVA, 57-yard career long, 39.36-yard average make

The Commodores kicker is on pace to join the other elites, but the sample size isn't large enough yet. Brock Taylor's 0.556 KVA per field-goal attempt edges out Tate Sandell (0.547) for the best mark among current players with 20-plus tries. He's hit from 50-plus six times, including a career-best 57-yarder against Missouri as a sophomore. The track record's size is all that's holding him back.

6. Aidan Birr, Georgia Tech

57-of-70 FGs; 127-of-128 PATs; 14.44 career KVA, 55-yard career long, 33.67-yard average make

Aidan Birr has hit from 55 in an actual game of record and 62 in a spring outing, flashing power that screams "NFL." But the Georgia Tech senior has feasted on bunnies and mid-rangers, earning just 0.237 KVA per field-goal attempt. His second-longest make in 2025 was a 44-yarder.

7. Alex McPherson, Auburn

40-of-45 FGs; 87-of-87 PATs; 17.73 career KVA, 53-yard career long, 35.09-yard average make

Alex McPherson is the most accurate high-volume kicker on the board, but he's the first in our rankings not to walk through either of the gates. He hasn't breached 20 career KVA, and his career-best 53-yarder is three feet shy of the distance threshold. Still, McPherson's accuracy counts for a lot. He's also two years removed from a season lost to ulcerative colitis and the surgical removal of his large intestine and now claims to be entering camp stronger than ever, per Adam Cole of the Montgomery Advertiser.

8. Jackson Kleather, Northwestern

25-of-31 FGs; 43-of-44 PATs; 7.43 career KVA, 56-yard career long, 37.04-yard average make

Can he survive Big Ten rushes and weather for the second straight season? Jackson Kleather has the powerful leg necessary to put himself on the radar, but he must first prove his 10.44 KVA in 2025 is a better signal than the -3.02 in a small 2024 sample.

9. Stone Harrington, Texas Tech

22-of-28 FGs; 42-of-43 PATs; 6.72 career KVA, 58-yard career long, 36.27-yard average make

Stone Harrington has an absolute cannon of a leg and has proved decently accurate in a one-year sample. Texas Tech frequently trusted him from 50-plus during his junior season after he began the year as the kickoff specialist and took over the placekicking gig midway through the year. If he can sustain that success while building more consistency from 45-50 yards, he'll move up the board.

Others who could join the 2027 NFL Draft conversation

10. Mateen Bhaghani, UCLA

44-of-53 FGs; 71-of-71 PATs; 13.35 career KVA, 57-yard career long, 34.75-yard average make

After producing solid but unspectacular results through three years, Mateen Bhaghani needs a stellar senior season to put himself firmly on the NFL radar. He's hit his field-goal attempts at a respectable 83.0 percent clip and has yet to miss an extra point through a year with California and two with UCLA, but the 57-yarder he drilled against Iowa in November 2024 feels more like an aberration than his normal. He's otherwise 4-of-8 from 50-plus.

11. Kyle Ferrie, Mississippi State

43-of-54 FGs; 109-of-110 PATs; 10.58 career KVA, 55-yard career long, 36.65-yard average make

Of the 12 players featured in this article, Kyle Ferrie ranks 11th in field-goal percentage (79.6%) and dead last in KVA per field-goal attempt (0.231). Those are still commendable numbers against the backdrop of all NCAA kickers, but he'll have to showcase the power in his leg far more as a senior at Mississippi State to start fielding NFL calls. Though Ferrie did hit from 55, 51, and 50 in 2025, those were his first three 50-plus makes.

12. Luca Lombardo, Boston College

17-of-18 FGs; 50-of-51 PATs; 9.18 career KVA, 52-yard career long, 36.74-yard average make

Sample size, sample size, sample size. Luca Lombardo was on a great pace in 2024, making 15 of his 16 extra-point tries and his lone attempt from 39 yards before a quad and shoulder injury led to a medical redshirt year. He returned with aplomb in 2025, accurate enough that he deserves a callout here but in need of more lengthy kicks to cement his professional prospects.

Honorable mentions: Nico Gramatica (South Florida), Kyle Konrardy (Iowa State), Clune Van Andel (Arkansas State)

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