Jake Moody became Michigan's first Lou Groza Award winner in program history last week, and he talked about the trophy, his kicking battery, whether the award has led to NIL opportunities, and more when he met with the media ahead of Michigan's trip to sunny Miami (kicking in nice weather also came up) for the Orange Bowl.

Where is the award going to end up?

So one of them is going to actually be here and the other one is just kind of wherever I end up, so I'll have one to keep with me forever and hopefully one will be in here forever.

What does it mean to get that recognition?

It means the world to me and it means a lot to not only me but the coaches and everybody else that's involved in it, so my snapper, William Wagner, and holder, Brad Robbins, have done a phenomenal job this year. I mean, you can't get any better than that. We had a sit-down at the beginning of the year. We set our goals and that was obviously our goal as a unit, so just kind of like not really...we didn't expect anything less, I guess you could say. Obviously we reached our goal which was really cool and credit to those guys and also the guys up front. No blocked kicks either helps a lot.

On whether there's extra satisfaction beating Iowa given how good their special teams unit was

Yeah, we take a lot of pride in that, being a really good special teams unit, and it's always fun to go up against another team that's also really good. We just like to have good competition in all special teams units and just kind of prove that we deserve to be the best special teams group in the country.

On Jay Harbaugh as a coach and how he's like his dad and how he's different

He's obviously great as a coach. You don't get named the best special teams unit in the entire country if you're a bad coach, so he's a phenomenal coach.

Obviously here he's very professional with coach Harbaugh. Being his dad, there's nothing too family here. Everything's business here. They do a great job of working together.

On whether there's relief kicking in Miami instead of Big Ten country and whether there's a difference kicking in warm weather

Yeah, it definitely makes a difference. It helps. Especially in the cold weather you get a little tighter, your muscles get a little tighter and the ball doesn't fly as far, so going somewhere like Miami or playing indoors like we did last game and hopefully the next game, it's obviously a whole lot easier than kicking outside. Like today was gusting like 40 miles an hour. It's a lot easier on the specialists, that's for sure.

Has being kicker of the year led to more NIL opportunities for you?

Um, not really. That's not like my biggest focus right now. I just want to win a championship, so that's where my head's at. Not really too worried about that, but hopefully that may come in the future. That'd be pretty cool.

On not having to kick field goals the last few games

I mean, I love it. As long as we're hitting a lot of extra points then that's all that matters. It means we're usually winning games. I'm not real selfish about that stuff. Obviously it's nice to hit a field goal here and there but as long as we're winning, that's all that matters.

On what was most special for him after winning the Big Ten title

I just kind of look back at all the hard work we put in this year and all the different things we've done in preparation because you can see that it has paid off, so just kind of looking back at what we've done in the past to kind of try and change the culture, I guess you could say, and get everybody bought in. It's been pretty special.

On his consistency and what he's done this year to achieve that

I mean, just obviously practicing makes perfect. No kicker is going to be perfect but just trying to work towards that. And then like I said earlier, having a great snapper and a great holder makes it a lot easier for me, so shout out to those two guys for making me look pretty good this year.

On how much they take from the Baltimore Ravens' special teams

Yeah, I mean, the Ravens are a great special teams unit all around so we like to watch them as a unit, and then personally I like to watch Justin Tucker since he's one of the best to ever do it. Just kind of take some things from his technique and possibly work it into mine, but most kickers kind of have their natural form so don't really like to tweak mine too much. Just kind of refining the little details. Just kind of work at perfecting what I do naturally.

On taking kickoff strategy etc. from the Ravens

Yeah, you can look at any team in the NFL and just go off of what they do, see what's working, see what's not working and then try it yourself. Coach Jay's done a great job of having a great kickoff unit, so when it's not fair caught or it's not in the end zone we're usually tackling them inside the 25. We've done a great job this year having a good kickoff unit.

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