Pasadena Native Conrad Ukropina Earns Pac-12 Honor

Stanford University senior and Pasadena native Conrad Ukropina, whose 45-yard field goal as time expired lifted the 13th-ranked Cardinal to a thrilling 38-36 victory against fourth-ranked Notre Dame Saturday night, was named Pac-12 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday.

Ukropina has had a breakthrough season for the Cardinal. He has converted 15 of 17 field goal attempts, 56 consecutive extra points and leads the team in scoring with 101 points, tied for sixth in the league. He has also shares kickoff duties with freshman Jake Bailey.

Ukropina joined the program as a walk-on in 2012 and became the starting kicker this season. David Shaw, the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, awarded him a scholarship on September 14.

Ukropina was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist. He kicked a career-best 52-yard field goal against UCF and a 46-yarder at USC. Ukropina tallied three field goals against Washington State and Oregon.

A science, technology and society major, Ukropina was selected to the 2015 Pac-12 All-Academic second team and CoSIDA Academic All-District.

Ukropina attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, graduating Cum Laude with highest honors in 2012. He was varsity football captain for two years there and also played varsity soccer.

Last week, Stanford sophomore running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey was honored as Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week.