2017 Signing Day Roster
Stefanou, James
vs
Houston
Sep 12 (Fri)
5:30 PM
Jersey Number 48
James Stefanou
- Position:
- Placekicker
- Height:
- 6-1
- Weight:
- 185
- Class:
- Freshman
- Hometown:
- Melbourne, Australia
- High School:
- Rose Hill Secondary College
Bio
AT COLORADO: He played in 29 career games and made good on 97-of-98 career PAT attempts and 34-of-49 field goals … He finished as CU’s all-time leader in PAT percentage (.9897, just edging Neill Voskeritchian, .9896; he was 95-of-96) … His 69.4 percentage for field goals was fourth-best for those players with 40 or more attempts … His 199 points ranked eighth in CU history and was the fourth-most in kick scoring … His 34 field goals were fifth most in CU history … He hit his first 78 career PAT attempts, setting a new CU record.
2020 (Sr.)—He played in the season opener against UCLA, making all five PAT attempts but missing on his two field goal tries (51 and 40 yards, the last of which was blocked) … Sensing he couldn’t come fully back from surgery on his hip, he decided to medically retire from football the following Monday … He was the oldest player in the FBS at the time he stepped down.
2019 (Jr.)—He began his junior season on a tear, hitting on his first 10 field goals and 13 PATs and setting CU records in both categories … He matched Mason Crosby's school record of 10 straight field goals and the PATs pushed his consecutive streak to 78 makes to start a career, setting a new CU record … In all, he hit on 26-of-27 PATs and 12-of-17 field goals before pulling himself out at the UCLA game where it was revealed he had reaggravated a hip injury … He missed the final three games of the year and had surgery shortly after the season … He was CU's nominee for Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week against Arizona State and Arizona … He also handled kickoff duties for a good portion of the season and on 36 kickoffs, he had 23 touchdowns, 19 of which sailed through the end zone, with just nine returned for an average starting position of the opponent 24 yard line … He was 2-of-2 on field goals, including what became the game-winner in OT, and hit on all four PATs in CU's 34-31 win over Nebraska … He again hit on all four PATs and both field goals against Arizona State, including what became the game-winner with a 41-yarder with just 2:03 left in the game … He was named CU's Special Teams Player of the Week against Colorado State and Nebraska … In two scrimmages and the spring game, he was 8-of-8 on PATs and 2-of-3 on field goals, the only miss coming in the spring game, a 62-yarder that was just short right before halftime … He did hit a 50-yard field goal in the second scrimmage.
2018 (Soph.)—Was one of 30 kickers on the Lou Groza watch list … Played in eight games, missing four due to injury … Played in the first six games of the season and missed the next two and then came back for the final two games of the season … Was 5-of-8 on field goals and 30-of-30 on PATs for a total of 45 points … Hit his lone field goal attempt from 39-yards out and connecting on 6-of-6 PATs in the season opener against Colorado State … Hit two field goals and three PATs at Nebraska … Hit his lone field goal and all six PATs against New Hampshire … Hit only field goal and five PATs against UCLA … Athlon Sports named him to its All-Pac-12 third-team on its preseason list … Phil Steele’s College Football selected him to his preseason All-Pac-12 third-team.
2017 (Fr.)—He was named a first-team Freshman All-American by ESPN.com … Was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award on Nov. 2, becoming the third Buffalo to be a semifinalist for the award, joining Will Oliver (2013) and Mason Crosby (2005 and 2006)… Won the team’s Lee Willard Award presented to the most outstanding freshman … Named to the Colorado Chapter/NFF College Football Hall of Fame All-Colorado Team … Was 17-of-22 on field goal attempts (.773) and a perfect 35-for-35 on extra point tries … Became just the third freshman to have a 1.000 percentage on multiple extra-point kicks, but by far and away made the most (Patrick Blottiaux was 7-of-7 in 1988 and Jason Lesley 2-of-2 in 1995) … Scored 86 points, the second most on the team behind Phillip Lindsay, and that was the sixth-most by kicking (both the most by a frosh, kicking and overall) in CU history … Ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring at 7.8 points per game … His 17 field goals made tied for the sixth-most in a single season at Colorado … He connected on his first career field goal try, from 39 yards out, against Colorado State … Made all three of his field goal tries (from 34, 40 and 35 yards) and all four of his PATs in week two against Texas State … He repeated the feat of making three field goals in a game in the UCLA contest, which gave him nine consecutive makes going back to the Texas State game and that tied for the second-longest streak of consecutive field goal makes in school history … His 10-for-11 start on field goal tries is the third best start to a career ever at Colorado with one miss (.909 percentage) … For a third time on the year, he put three field goals through the uprights in the victory over California … The very next week at Arizona State he connected on field goals from 34, 28 and a career-long 53 yards and was named a Lou Groza Award Star of the Week for his performance … The 53-yard field goal is the second-longest by a freshman in Colorado history (behind the 54-yarder Davis Price made the season prior in 2016).
PRIOR TO COLORADO (Football)—He trained periodically over the course of the past six seasons at ProKick Australia, an academy developed to assist in the transition to American football by providing the fundamentals of punting and kicking ... Alumni of the academy include the last four Ray Guy Award winners; Tom Hornsey of Memphis in 2013, Tom Hackett of Utah in 2014 and 2015 and Mitch Wishnowsky of Utah in 2016. His long field goal at ProKick was made from 63 yards out.
PRIOR TO COLORADO (Soccer)—He comes from a soccer background in Australia where he has elite level experience as a defender … Represented Australia on its U19 team, a youth progression team that is the feeder squad to the Olympic team … He was a captain of that U19 Victorian team and from there was selected onto the Australian National team … Played professionally, most notably in two stints for South Melbourne FC, first from 2005-06 before he signed again with them in 2010, and also for Heidelberg United from 2008-09.
ACADEMICS—He is majoring in Journalism at Colorado and pursuing a minor in Leadership Studies.
PERSONAL—He was born April 15, 1987 in Australia (he is the second-oldest active player in the FBS) … He married the former Laura Monaco and the couple has one daughter, Chloe, born in February 2020 … Hobbies include training and watching sports … His grandfather, Ari Amenopoulos, was an Olympic rower. (Last name pronounced steff-ah-know)
2020 (Sr.)—He played in the season opener against UCLA, making all five PAT attempts but missing on his two field goal tries (51 and 40 yards, the last of which was blocked) … Sensing he couldn’t come fully back from surgery on his hip, he decided to medically retire from football the following Monday … He was the oldest player in the FBS at the time he stepped down.
2019 (Jr.)—He began his junior season on a tear, hitting on his first 10 field goals and 13 PATs and setting CU records in both categories … He matched Mason Crosby's school record of 10 straight field goals and the PATs pushed his consecutive streak to 78 makes to start a career, setting a new CU record … In all, he hit on 26-of-27 PATs and 12-of-17 field goals before pulling himself out at the UCLA game where it was revealed he had reaggravated a hip injury … He missed the final three games of the year and had surgery shortly after the season … He was CU's nominee for Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week against Arizona State and Arizona … He also handled kickoff duties for a good portion of the season and on 36 kickoffs, he had 23 touchdowns, 19 of which sailed through the end zone, with just nine returned for an average starting position of the opponent 24 yard line … He was 2-of-2 on field goals, including what became the game-winner in OT, and hit on all four PATs in CU's 34-31 win over Nebraska … He again hit on all four PATs and both field goals against Arizona State, including what became the game-winner with a 41-yarder with just 2:03 left in the game … He was named CU's Special Teams Player of the Week against Colorado State and Nebraska … In two scrimmages and the spring game, he was 8-of-8 on PATs and 2-of-3 on field goals, the only miss coming in the spring game, a 62-yarder that was just short right before halftime … He did hit a 50-yard field goal in the second scrimmage.
2018 (Soph.)—Was one of 30 kickers on the Lou Groza watch list … Played in eight games, missing four due to injury … Played in the first six games of the season and missed the next two and then came back for the final two games of the season … Was 5-of-8 on field goals and 30-of-30 on PATs for a total of 45 points … Hit his lone field goal attempt from 39-yards out and connecting on 6-of-6 PATs in the season opener against Colorado State … Hit two field goals and three PATs at Nebraska … Hit his lone field goal and all six PATs against New Hampshire … Hit only field goal and five PATs against UCLA … Athlon Sports named him to its All-Pac-12 third-team on its preseason list … Phil Steele’s College Football selected him to his preseason All-Pac-12 third-team.
2017 (Fr.)—He was named a first-team Freshman All-American by ESPN.com … Was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award on Nov. 2, becoming the third Buffalo to be a semifinalist for the award, joining Will Oliver (2013) and Mason Crosby (2005 and 2006)… Won the team’s Lee Willard Award presented to the most outstanding freshman … Named to the Colorado Chapter/NFF College Football Hall of Fame All-Colorado Team … Was 17-of-22 on field goal attempts (.773) and a perfect 35-for-35 on extra point tries … Became just the third freshman to have a 1.000 percentage on multiple extra-point kicks, but by far and away made the most (Patrick Blottiaux was 7-of-7 in 1988 and Jason Lesley 2-of-2 in 1995) … Scored 86 points, the second most on the team behind Phillip Lindsay, and that was the sixth-most by kicking (both the most by a frosh, kicking and overall) in CU history … Ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring at 7.8 points per game … His 17 field goals made tied for the sixth-most in a single season at Colorado … He connected on his first career field goal try, from 39 yards out, against Colorado State … Made all three of his field goal tries (from 34, 40 and 35 yards) and all four of his PATs in week two against Texas State … He repeated the feat of making three field goals in a game in the UCLA contest, which gave him nine consecutive makes going back to the Texas State game and that tied for the second-longest streak of consecutive field goal makes in school history … His 10-for-11 start on field goal tries is the third best start to a career ever at Colorado with one miss (.909 percentage) … For a third time on the year, he put three field goals through the uprights in the victory over California … The very next week at Arizona State he connected on field goals from 34, 28 and a career-long 53 yards and was named a Lou Groza Award Star of the Week for his performance … The 53-yard field goal is the second-longest by a freshman in Colorado history (behind the 54-yarder Davis Price made the season prior in 2016).
PRIOR TO COLORADO (Football)—He trained periodically over the course of the past six seasons at ProKick Australia, an academy developed to assist in the transition to American football by providing the fundamentals of punting and kicking ... Alumni of the academy include the last four Ray Guy Award winners; Tom Hornsey of Memphis in 2013, Tom Hackett of Utah in 2014 and 2015 and Mitch Wishnowsky of Utah in 2016. His long field goal at ProKick was made from 63 yards out.
PRIOR TO COLORADO (Soccer)—He comes from a soccer background in Australia where he has elite level experience as a defender … Represented Australia on its U19 team, a youth progression team that is the feeder squad to the Olympic team … He was a captain of that U19 Victorian team and from there was selected onto the Australian National team … Played professionally, most notably in two stints for South Melbourne FC, first from 2005-06 before he signed again with them in 2010, and also for Heidelberg United from 2008-09.
ACADEMICS—He is majoring in Journalism at Colorado and pursuing a minor in Leadership Studies.
PERSONAL—He was born April 15, 1987 in Australia (he is the second-oldest active player in the FBS) … He married the former Laura Monaco and the couple has one daughter, Chloe, born in February 2020 … Hobbies include training and watching sports … His grandfather, Ari Amenopoulos, was an Olympic rower. (Last name pronounced steff-ah-know)
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