Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football starting kicker Kenneth Almendares out for the season

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Sept. 30, 2021

Kenneth Almendares, UL’s starting kicker, is out for the season, coach Billy Napier said after practice Wednesday night.

The sophomore sustained an “avulsion tear” during last Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference-opening 28-20 win over Georgia Southern, and will undergo surgery according to Napier.

Napier didn’t specify where the injury is. Avulsion injuries can occur in various body parts including the foot and hip.

Almendares was 4-of-5 on field goal tries and 14-of-15 on PATs this season. He  won the starting job in the middle of last season from Nate Snyder, who has been handling kickoffs this season.

It will be Snyder‘s job again  when the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-1, 1-0 SBC) play at South Alabama (3-0, 0-0) on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN�)  .

Snyder hit a 53-yard field goal as time expired to beat Georgia Southern last season, but he lost the job due to shorter-range consistency issues.

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Snyder is a second-year graduate transfer from Indiana, where he also kicked off but did not handle field goals or PATs for the Hoosiers.

“He (was) extremely sharp in training camp and so far this season and he is having a good week this week,” Napier said.

reshman Logan Klotz, who hasn’t attempted a kick, is now the backup.

Napier also said starting left tackle Carlos Rubio, as expected, will miss the reason of the season after suffering a knee injury against Georgia Southern. He tore both the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament, according to Napier, and will undergo surgery after swelling in the joint subsides.

Injured reserve offensive linemen Tyler Brown and Jax Harrington also are out for the season, Napier confirmed.

With those three out, starting left guard Ken Marks will move to  left tackle and AJ GIllie will open at the left guard spot where he started when Rubio missed the first two games of the season. Lafayette High product David Hudson, who started one game last season, is now the backup left and right guard and King McGowen is the backup right tackle.