Heavy Metal - News Of ALL the College Football Awards

October 2, 2020 by Scott Farrell of collegepressbox.com

NOTE: CollegeFootballPoll.com's Dave Congrove is a voting member for the FWAA-NFF Super 16 Football Poll, as well as the College Football Hall Of Fame. He is also a voting member of the following awards: Fred Biletnikoff, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Ray Guy, Bednarik, Maxwell, and George Munger.  He is a nominating member for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Outland Trophy, and the FWAA All-America Team.

Many of the awards announce a "player of the week" for their specific honor, update the watch list, or simply make noteworthy announcements.  Here's a look at the latest on each award.

Bednarik Award – nation’s defensive player of the year (2019 winner: Chase Young, DE, Ohio State)
Pitt senior defensive end Patrick Jones II (Chesapeake, Va.) was named the Chuck Bednarik Award National Defensive Player of the Week by the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia. Jones led a swarming defensive effort with three sacks, a hurry and tied for team-high honors with six total tackles in Pitt’s 23-20 victory over No.24 Louisville. The Panthers held a Cardinals offense averaging more than 500 yards per game to 223. Pitt leads the nation with 17 team sacks – Jones leads the team with 3.5 – and the Panthers are in the national top-10 in total defense (2nd, 177.0 ypg), rushing defense (2nd, 56.0 ypg), passing defense (3rd, 121.0 ypg) and scoring defense (6th, 10.0 ppg).

Biletnikoff Award – nation’s outstanding receiver regardless of position (2019 winner: Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU)
Two of the nation’s top three receivers came from the same game last week and the top four yardage leaders are all from the SEC. Florida’s Kyle Pitts (Philadelphia, Pa.) garnered plenty of headlines with four touchdowns coming off his eight receptions and 170 yards against Ole Miss. The 170 receiving yards are the highest single-game total by a Gator since 2014. But on the opposite sideline was the Rebels’ Elijah Moore (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), whose 227 receiving yards were the second-most in school history in a single game but a record mark against an SEC foe. The 227 total give Moore, a Watch List member who led Ole Miss in receptions, yards and TD’s in 2019, a hefty national lead for the moment on second-place Osirus Mitchell (Sarasota, Fla.) of Mississippi State (183 ypg). Mitchell and Kylin Hill (Columbus, Miss.) are second and fourth, respectively, following the SEC-debut of Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense in a 44-34 win at LSU. Mitchell (183 yards), Kylin Hill (158) and JaVonta Payton (Nashville, Tenn.) (tied for 11th at 122) became just the second trio in school history to go over 100 yards receiving in the same game.

Bronko Nagurski Trophy – nation’s top defensive player (2019 winner: Chase Young, DE, Ohio State)
The FWAA and Charlotte Touchdown Club honored Kansas State safety Jahron McPherson (Basehor, Kan.) as its National Defensive Player of the Week. McPherson netted a career-high 11 tackles in a 38-35 win at No. 3 Oklahoma. He is the first Wildcat since at least 2002 to total double-digit tackles, a tackle-for-loss, a forced fumble and an interception in a single game. BYU senior defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga (West Valley, Utah), a Watch List member, registered a career-high two sacks Saturday against Troy. Tonga (first name pronounced Kye-riss) helped the 2-0 Cougars hold Troy to just 181 total yards, the Trojans’ worst output since 2014. Tennessee edge rusher Deandre Johnson (Miami, Fla.) led all SEC players in their openers with 2.5 sacks in a 31-27 win at South Carolina. He also forced a fumble to go with his career-high six tackles. Two of his sacks came on third down, including a critical one in the fourth quarter.
 
Burlsworth Trophy – most outstanding player who started his career as a walk-on (2019 winner: Kenny Willekes, DE, Michigan State)
The Burlsworth Trophy has pushed the dates forward for all nominations, now due by November 18th. The top 10 finalists will be announced on Dec. 1 with the three finalists being announced on Dec. 8. The Burlsworth Trophy ceremony will be Dec. 21 either live or virtually.

Butkus Award – nation’s best linebacker (2019 winner: Isaiah Simmons, Clemson)
Ventrell Miller (Lakeland, Fla.) led all SEC players in their opening games with 15 tackles – 13 of them solo – in Florida’s 51-35 win at Ole Miss. He added two TFL’s (17 yards lost) and a sack (for 11 yards) as one of only two SEC players to notch double-digit solo stops. Louisiana junior Lorenzo McCaskill (Detroit, Mich.) had 14 tackles last week in a 20-18 win at Georgia Southern, and the nation’s current tackles leader (36 total, 17 solo) has delivered double-digit tackle counts in each game of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 3-0 start. The 14 stops were Louisiana’s highest single-game count since 2017. Cincinnati senior Jarrell White (Cincinnati, Ohio) had a game- and career-high 15 tackles as the Bearcats held Army 207.5 yards below its season rushing average in a 24-10 win. UTSA true freshman Jamal Ligon (Tyler, Texas) broke the school’s single-game tackles record with 19 stops in the 37-35 win over Middle Tennessee, the most tackles by an FBS player in a single game this season. 

Davey O’Brien Award – nation’s best quarterback (2019 winner: Joe Burrow, LSU)
The Davey O’Brien Foundation announced Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) as its Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week following his record-setting debut for the Bulldogs. The senior transfer set the SEC and school record with 623 passing yards in a 44-34 win at No. 6 LSU, the 11th-highest total by an NCAA FBS player. The Stanford transfer’s five touchdowns were a personal best and matched the MSU record. Joining Costello among this week’s Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award’s Great 8 are Louisiana Tech’s Luke Anthony, Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, UCF’s Dillon Gabriel, Miami’s D’Eriq King, Kansas State’s Skylar Thompson, Florida’s Kyle Trask and BYU’s Zach Wilson.

Doak Walker Award – nation’s premier running back (2019 winner: Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin)
The early rushing leaders for those with at least two games played belong to underclassmen. Iowa State sophomore Breece Hall (Wichita, Kan.) leads the Big 12 and is third in the nation at 128.5 yards per game. He’s not a new name; Hall has nine 100-yard games in his last 10 outings with 13 TD’s against a Big 12 schedule. He posted 157 yards last week at TCU. SMU freshman Ulysses Bentley IV (Houston, Texas) has been a force in the Mustangs’ 3-0 start averaging 126.7 ypg. His 380 total rushing yards lead the nation as do his seven rushing TD’s (tied) – he’s averaging 10.56 yards per carry and 14.0 points per game – and was the first player to top 200 rushing yards in a game (227 at North Texas) this season. Bentley is three yards ahead of sophomore Sincere McCormick (Converse, Texas), who has similarly keyed UTSA’s first 3-0 start since 2017. The freshman All-American last year currently owns the UTSA record at 108.9 all-purpose yards per game. App State junior Daetrich Harrington (Douglasville, Ga.) ran for a career-high 211 yards and four touchdowns, marking the best single-game scoring output among FBS players this season in a 52-21 win over Campbell. He is the first App State player to score four TD’s in a game since 2009. 

Heisman Trophy – nation’s most outstanding player (2019 winner: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU)
Texas senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger (Austin, Texas) directed an epic comeback Saturday, leading a 22-point comeback in the final 3:13 and overtime in a 63-56 win at Texas Tech. The go-ahead TD in overtime marked the sixth game-winning drive of Ehlinger’s career paced by his career-high six total TD’s (one rushing) to go with 331 yards of total offense. Through two games, Ehlinger has completed 52-of-73 passes (71.2%) for 688 yards and 10 TD’s and has 769 yards of total offense with 11 total TD’s. Miami transfer quarterback D’Eriq King (Manvel, Texas) crushed Florida State in a 52-10 win, hitting 29-of-40 passes for 267 yards and two TD’s with a game-high 65 rushing yards. He was just one completion shy of tying his career high for completions (30) set at Houston in 2018. Through three starts King is completing 67.0 percent of his passes with six TD’s and without an interception.

John Mackey Award – nation’s most outstanding tight end (2019 winner: Harrison Bryant, Florida Atlantic)
Florida’s Kyle Pitts (Philadelphia, Pa.) is an easy choice to headline this week’s summary with his eight receptions for 170 yards and four TD’s against Ole Miss. The Mackey Watch List member tied a school record with the four TD’s – no Gators receiver has had even three TD’s since 2005 – and the 170 total is the highest single-game total by a Gator since 2014. He became the third FBS tight end since the start of the 1996 season with 150-plus receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in a game. Pitts and Memphis’ Sean Dykes (Manvel, Texas) were the nation’s only tight ends to post more than 100 yards in their openers. Dykes stood out in a 37-24 win over Arkansas State on Sept. 5 with 137 receiving yards, his second career 100-yard game, and a career-best two touchdowns. Dykes has appeared in 41 games over four seasons with 21 starts for Memphis with 43 career catches for 725 yards – an average of 16.9 yards per catch.

Lou Groza Award – nation’s top placekicker (2019 winner: Rodrigo Blankenship, Georgia)
The Palm Beach County Sports Commission recognized three kickers as its Stars of the Week. Pitt senior Alex Kessman (Clarkston, Mich.) kicked field goals of 45, 42 and 41 yards with two PAT’s as the Panthers moved to 3-0, topping Louisville 23-20. His 20 points lead Pitt in scoring. Florida junior Evan McPherson (Fort Payne, Ala.) opened his season with a career-long 55-yard bomb in a 51-35 victory over Ole Miss, tying the third-longest field goal in Gators history as part of a 15-point game. A Groza semifinalist in 2018, McPherson’s career accuracy rate of 90.2 percent is the best among active FBS kickers with at least 35 career attempts. Mississippi State junior Brandon Ruiz (Tempe, Ariz.) scored 14 points in MSU’s 44-34 upset in Baton Rouge. His three field goals gave MSU a lead with each kick, including a 43-yarder in the fourth quarter that gave MSU the lead for good. Out with an injury in 2019, Ruiz transferred to MSU this season as a former two-year starter at Arizona State. 

Maxwell Award – nation’s player of the year (2019 winner: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU)
In his first start at Mississippi State, quarterback K.J. Costello broke the school and SEC records with 623 passing yards as the Bulldogs won in Death Valley, 44-34 at LSU. Operating in head coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, the graduate transfer from Stanford shattered the MSU record by more than 100 yards and set other school records with 36 completions on 60 attempts. The 623 yards are the 11th-highest total in NCAA history.

Outland Trophy – nation’s most outstanding interior lineman (2019 winner: Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon)
We lead off with this – as of this printing, Penei Sewell, the 2019 Outland winner and one of only two returning NCFAA award winners (Max Duffey, Ray Guy Award), has opted out of the 2020 season and declared for the 2021 NFL draft. BYU’s battery of junior center James Empey (American Fork, Utah) and quarterback Zach Wilson guided the Cougars to 664 total yards in a 48-7 win over Troy. Empey, an Outland Watch List member, guided the line’s protection that allowed Wilson to hit on 23-of-27 passes for 392 passing yards and send two Cougars receivers over the 100-yard mark for the first time since 2015. BYU rushed for 192 yards as well. Two other Watch List members, App State senior center Noah Hannon (Greer, S.C.) and right guard Baer Hunter (Clemmons, N.C.) helped the Mountaineers rush for 404 yards and push Daetrich Harrington to 211 yards and four touchdowns, the second 200-yard rushing effort of the national season. True freshman Nate Noel ran for 131 yards in his App State debut.

Paul Hornung Award – most versatile player in college football (2019 winner: Lynn Bowden, QB/WR, Kentucky
Two players earned spots on the award’s weekly Honor Roll. Baylor senior running back and return specialist Trestan Ebner (Henderson, Texas) scored four times three different ways as the Bears beat Kansas at home 47-14. Following a one-yard TD run and an 18-yard TD reception in the first half, Ebner ran the second half kickoff back 100 yards for a TD and later returned a kickoff after a safety 83 yards for another score. Auburn sophomore quarterback Bo Nix (Pinson, Ala.) threw for 233 yards and three TD’s, rushed for 34 yards and punted twice as the Tigers won at home over Kentucky, 29-13. Nix twice pinned Kentucky inside the 10-yard line with punts out of the shotgun formation, and also picked up two first downs rushing, one of them a 13-yard scamper on what proved to be the game-winning touchdown drive. 

Paycom Jim Thorpe Award – nation’s best defensive back (2019 winner: Grant Delpit, S, LSU)
Kansas State safety Jahron McPherson (Basehor, Kan.) earned the Jim Thorpe Award Player of the Week following his big game in the Wildcats’ upset of No. 3 Oklahoma. McPherson totaled 11 tackles – including one for a loss – forced a fumble and had an interception as the Wildcats earned their first road win over a top-five ranked team in school history with a 38-35 victory.

Ray Guy Award – nation’s best punter (2019 winner: Max Duffy, Kentucky)
The Augusta Sports Council awarded Zach Von Rosenberg of LSU as its Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week from its “Ray’s 4” selections this week. Von Rosenberg (Zachary, La.), the nation’s second-oldest college football player at age 30, tied his career high with seven punts against Mississippi State with a gross and net average of 49.43 yards with no punt returns. He landed five punts inside the MSU 20-yard line with a long of 58 yards. The other “Ray’s 4” honorees from Week 4 were Jake Camarda of Georgia, Lucas Dean of UTSA and Pressley Harvin II of Georgia Tech. Also of note is Kentucky’s Max Duffy, the 2019 winner, is the only returning NCFAA award winner currently playing this season.

Rimington Trophy – nation’s premier center (2019 winner: Tyler Biadasz, Wisconsin)
Virginia Tech center Brock Hoffman (Statesville, N.C.) led an offensive line that led the Hokies to 314 rushing yards in a 45-24 win against N.C. State last week. It was only the third time since Tech joined the ACC in 2004 that the Hokies have racked up 300-plus yards on the ground in an ACC game. The Hokies’ 314.0 ypg rushing avg. is second in the nation behind Army (320.0). Miami (232.3 ypg) is the next-closest ACC squad in rushing ypg. Tech averaged 8.5 yards per play and 7.7 yards per rushing attempt against N.C. State. It was Hoffman’s first contest since competing at Coastal Carolina in 2018 before transferring to Virginia Tech. Florida center Brett Heggie (Mount Dora, Fla.) and the Florida line pushed the Gators to 642 total yards in a win at Ole Miss, a school record for yards against an SEC opponent. His protection led to Kyle Trask’s 416 yards passing with six TD’s. The 51-35 win has Florida leading the SEC in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense and is second in passing.

Walter Camp Award – nation’s most outstanding player (2019 winner: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU)
A record-breaking performance in his debut at a new school earned Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello the Walter Camp FBS National Offensive Player of the Week honor. Costello (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) helped the Bulldogs upset defending national champion and No. 6 LSU, 44-34, by throwing for 623 yards to shatter the MSU and SEC single-game passing yards record. The 623 yards are the 11th-best total in NCAA history. Costello completed 36 passes on 60 attempts, both MSU school records, and he matched the program record for passing touchdowns with five. He is the third MSU player to win the weekly award since 2004. Here is the complete release: https://bit.ly/34niOjS.

William V. Campbell Trophy – nation’s premier scholar-athlete (2019 winner: Justin Hebert, QB, Oregon)
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced an all-time record of 199 semifinalists for the 2020 William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Mazda, establishing an exciting new highwater mark for one of college football’s most coveted awards. Celebrating its 31st year, the NFF will announce 12-to-14 finalists in November, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2020 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments. Later this year, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 31st Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, having his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000 and receiving his own 25-pound-bronze version of the iconic statue. 

Wuerffel Trophy – exemplary community service and academic achievement (2019 Winner: Jon Wassink, Western Michigan)
Two Wuerffel Trophy nominees, Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond (San Antonio, Texas) and Alabama tight end Miller Forristall (Cartersville, Ga.), will face each other in a 2:30 p.m. matchup Saturday in Tuscaloosa (on CBS) in a huge SEC West showdown. Happy belated birthday to 2013 recipient Gabe Ikard from Oklahoma, who turned 30 on September 26.