The Biletnikoff Award has historically been presented to the nation’s top wide receiver, but the award expanded the criteria to include any player who catches a football regardless of position. This allowed running backs and tight ends to be included in the mix, although the award still tends to go to a wide receiver. No player outside of the wide receiver position has ever received the Biletnikoff Award, although Penn State tight end [autotag]Tyler Warren[/autotag] would love to make some history and change that.
Warren was one of three players added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list on Wednesday. He is now the fifth tight end to appear on this year;’s watch list for the top receiver award. He is the only Nittany Lion to be listed on this year’s watch list, and Warren is hoping to bring the Biletnikoff Award back to Happy Valley.
Penn State has just one Biletnikoff Award winner in program history, and it just so happens to be the first player to win the Biletnikoff Award. [autotag]Bobby Engram[/autotag] was the inaugural Biletnikoff Award winner in 1994.
Warren currently leads Penn State in receiving and is among the Big Ten’s top-10 receiving yardage leaders as Penn State is about to come out of a bye week. Warren has 40 receptions for 513 yards and four touchdowns (he has also rushed for and passed for a touchdown this season. In Warren’s most recent game, against USC, the star tight end caught 17 passes for 224 yards, which is the second-most receiving yards in a single game by a single player in Penn State program history.
Last year’s recipient of the Biletnikoff Award was Marvin Harrison Jr., from Ohio State. Other notable past winners of the Biletnikoff Award include two-time winners Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech, 2007 and 2008) and Justin Blackmon (Oklahoma State, 2010 and 2011), Randy Moss (Marshall, 1997), Larry Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh, 2003), Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech, 2006), Ja’Marr Chase (LSU, 2019), and DeVonta Smith (Alabama, 2020).
Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.