Pitt Freshman Kicker Expected to Miss Georgia Tech Game

PITTSBURGH - It appears that the Pitt Panthers will once again be missing a top special teams specialist this weekend.

According to a report by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, kicker Trey Butkowski is expected to miss a crucial conference clash vs. Georgia Tech. Sam Carpenter, who went 1-of-2 against Notre Dame last week, is expected to serve as the lead place kicker.

Pitt standout kicker Trey Butkowski is expected to miss tomorrow’s game against No. 16 Georgia Tech due to an illness, sources tell @CBSSports.

Is set to be the second straight missed game for Butkowski, who’s 19 of 21 on field goals this season. https://t.co/sgoUeMyxCM pic.twitter.com/ukBqVqtlw8
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) November 22, 2025

Butkowski, a former walk-on, was named a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award despite not being named to the preseason watch list, which is awarded to the top kicker in college football. He is one of 20 kickers named as a semifinalist.

Butkowski was 5-for-5 on PATs and did not attempt a field goal in his last outing, a 35-20 win over Stanford. Butkowski did not play in last week's game against Notre Dame due to an illness.

Butkowski by the Numbers

Butkowski has converted on 19-of-21 field goal attempts and 40-of-41 PATs this season. He has scored the ninth-most points by any player in college football and is second in points per game, with 10.8. Butkowski also tied for the 17th-best field goal percentage at 90.5%.

Butkowski has been very consistent as a true freshman. He now holds the Pitt program record for most consecutive field goal conversions with 16, breaking former Panthers' kicker Ben Sauls' record in just his eighth game. His 90.5% field goal rate is also on pace to break Chris Ferencik's Pitt single-season field goal percentage record of 92.3%, which he set in 1995 when he went 12-for-13 on field goal tries.

Butkowski's Journey

Butkowski started kicking in his sophomore year of high school and was primarily a soccer player for 13 years before that. He then connected with Sauls, who Butkowski said played a large role in him walking on to Pitt, through their shared kicking coach.

After one summer with the program, Butkowski went from the third-string kicker behind Sam Carpenter and transfer James London to being named the starter, prompting London to depart from the program.

Butkowski went 2-for-2 on field goals and 7-for-8 on PATs, with the lone miss being blocked, in his first collegiate game against Duquesne. His first career miss was on the road against West Virginia, but he quickly bounced back and made his next three attempts.

Those next three kicks started his record-breaking run of field goal makes until he claimed the record five games later against NC State. He nearly extended the streak to 17 conversions, but missed his last attempt of the game from 48 yards out.

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