Tag: Biletnikoff Award

Marvin Harrison Jr. named a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award

Harrison Jr. has a real good shot to take home this award. Would you give it to him? #GoBucks

It may have come a bit out of the blue this year, but it is very much deserving. Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was one of twelve names announced as semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award on Monday.

Before the season started, everyone had Jaxon Smith-Njigba pegged as the frontrunner for the award that goes to the player judged to be the most outstanding receiver in college football. However, Smith-Njigba has been dealing with an injury to his hamstring all season long and hasn’t been able to get on the field and stay.

No problem.

Harrison Jr. had picked up and become a star in Columbus, using his long frame, great route-running, and superhuman abilities to make circus-type catches all season long. For the year, Harrison Jr. has 65 catches for 1,037 yards (16.0 avg.) and 11 touchdowns.

The complete list of receivers named as semifinals includes:

Jordan Addison, USC
Brock Bowers, Georgia
Nathaniel Dell, Houston
Josh Downs, North Carolina
Zay Flowers, Boston College
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
Xavier Hutchinson, Iowa State
Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee
Quentin Johnston, TCU
Charlie Jones, Purdue
Rashee Rice, SMU
Keylon Stokes, Tulsa

Of these names, three finalists will be named on November 29, and the winner revealed on December 8 during the Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.

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Oregon OC Kenny Dillingham nominated for Broyles Award, given to nation’s top assistant coach

Oregon Duck offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham has been nominated for the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant.

It’s been a pretty good season for the Oregon Ducks offense and committees for certain national awards have taken notice.

Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham has been nominated for the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

In his first season in Eugene, Dillingham has led Oregon to become one of the top offenses in the country. The Ducks are averaging 42 points a game and nearly 530 yards of offense per contest.

It helps to have a senior transfer quarterback in Bo Nix, who is familiar with the playbook, but Dillingham has improved every aspect of the Duck offense from a year ago. He has helped the receivers become everything Duck fans hoped they would be when they were recruited.

Troy Franklin has been the biggest beneficiary of Dillingham’s scheme. He was recently named to the official Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best receiver.

Last year’s winner was former Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, who is now with Mario Cristobal in Miami.

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Kayshon Boutte says he would have won the Biletnikoff if it weren’t for his injury last fall

Boutte thinks he would have edged out Jordan Addison if he stayed healthy last fall.

[autotag]Kayshon Boutte[/autotag] is expected to be one of the top receivers in all of college football this fall.

A preseason First Team All-SEC selection, Boutte was on pace for a monstrous 2021 season before an injury ended his campaign six games into the year. In those six games, he notched 38 catches for 509 yards and nine touchdowns.

With Boutte healthy and ready to go this fall, he’s a popular pick to win the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s top pass-catcher. Last year, the award went to former Pittsburgh and current USC receiver Jordan Addison, instead, who crossed the 1,500-yard mark.

Though he wasn’t on pace to eclipse Addison’s yardage total, he was on pace to beat him out in terms of touchdowns. Speaking to the media at the beginning of fall camp, Boutte said he believes he would have won the Biletnikoff had he stayed healthy.

“I feel like the Biletnikoff is one of my goals,” Boutte said. “But I feel like if I didn’t have my injury last season, I was on pace to win it.”

Whether he would have beaten out Addison is unknowable, but he will have a good shot at the award if he can stay healthy this season. With that being said, he’ll still have to battle Addison, and many see the two as the nation’s best receivers.

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Four Notre Dame linemen named to Lombardi Award watch list

The Lombardi Award has quite the interesting recent history.

The Lombardi Award has quite the interesting recent history. Given to the college football lineman who best embodies the late great Vince Lombardi, the award’s eligibility was expanded to all positions from 2017 to 2020. The award reverted to its original eligibility in 2021, and Notre Dame is benefiting from that in 2022. That’s because four Irish players have been named to the watch list for the award.

Not only is the winner the best player at his position, but he also best reflects Lombardi’s character. The Irish undoubtedly are happy that they will go into the season with four chances to net the sixth Lombardi Award in program history. [autotag]Manti Te’o[/autotag] was the Irish’s last winner in 2012, so they definitely are overdue for another one.

The award can be presented to a lineman on either side of the ball, and since tight ends also can be blockers, they are eligible for the award, too. Keep that in mind as we look at the Irish players on the list:

Kayshon Boutte named to preseason Biletnikoff Award watch list

Boutte is expected to be one of the best offensive players in the country this fall.

It comes as no surprise, but LSU wide receiver [autotag]Kayshon Boutte[/autotag] is on the Biletnikoff  Award preseason watch list.

The Biletnikoff Award is given annually to the best receiver in college football. Former LSU wideouts [autotag]Josh Reed[/autotag] and [autotag]Ja’Marr Chase[/autotag] won the award in 2001 and 2019, respectively.

Boutte is expected to be one of the top offensive players in the country this fall and one of the first receivers off the board in the 2023 NFL draft. In just six games last year before his season was cut short by injuries, Boutte racked up 509 yards and a team-high nine touchdowns.

He has proven himself as a guy that can play in the slot and on the outside. He can work underneath and take the top off defenses. He’s a do-it-all wide receiver.

If LSU has decent quarterback play and Boutte is healthy, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be a prime contender for the Biletnikoff.

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Cedric Tillman named to Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list

Tennessee wide receiver Cedric Tillman named to the Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list.

Redshirt senior wide receiver Cedric Tillman has been named to the Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc.

Tillman, who was also named to the Maxwell Award preseason watch list, is one of five SEC receivers to make the list.

Running backs, slot backs, wide receivers and tight ends are eligible to win the award, which recognizes the best FBS receiver.

Tillman recorded 64 receptions, 1,081 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns in 2021.

SEC media days: Cedric Tillman discusses having more to prove in 2022

SEC media days: Josh Heupel details Cedric Tillman having great command in the Vols’ offense

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Sooners wide receiver Marvin Mims named to 2022 Biletnikoff Award watch list

Expected to take another step forward in his production, wide receiver Marvin Mims was included on the 2022 Biletnikoff Award watch list.

Perhaps no player on the Oklahoma Sooners roster will benefit more from the change in offensive play caller than wide receiver Marvin Mims.

For the second season in a row, Mims led the Oklahoma Sooners in receiving yards, despite finishing fourth on the team in targets behind Jadon Haselwood, Michael Woods, and Mario Williams. Mims averaged 22 yards per reception last season and had huge days against Tulane, Texas, and Texas Tech.

Mims was incredibly underutilized down the stretch in 2021, receiving just eight targets the final three weeks of the season against Baylor, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State. Games in which the offense struggled for all or parts of those contests.

With a new play caller in Jeff Lebby and a believer in Brent Venables, Marvin Mims is about to take the college football world by storm.

Heading into year three with the Oklahoma Sooners, Marvin Mims has been named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list for 2022.

Awarded annually since 1994, the only Oklahoma Sooner to take home the Biletnikoff was Dede Westbrook back in 2016.

Mims, who admitted he would have transferred had Lincoln Riley stayed in Norman, will get a new lease on life in an offense that feeds its number one wide receiver. Ole Miss’ No. 1 receiver in 2021, Dontario Drummond, received 94 targets. That’s more than double the number of targets Marvin Mims received last season.

Drummond also had the fifth-most snaps among Rebels last season with 902. Marvin Mims was ninth on the Sooners in snaps played with just 470, second to Jadon Haselwood among wide receivers.

If Drummond’s usage is any indication, then Mims is looking at his first 1,000-yard season with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2022. For the Sooners to get back to the top of the mountain in the Big 12 and into contention for the College Football Playoff, Mims will need to be the focal point of the Sooners’ passing attack.

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All-time Biletnikoff Award winners by year

Penn State is home to the first Biletnikoff Award winner, but Alabama, Pitt, and Oklahoma State are tied for the most all-time entering 2022.

The Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to college football’s top receiver, regardless of position. The award is presented by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation and is named in honor of Fred Biletnikoff, a College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame legend.

First presented in 1994, the Biletnikoff Award has been won each year by a wide receiver. Of course, for years the award was only available to wide receivers. But in recent years, the eligibility requirements have been expanded to any player who catches a pass. But the wait for the first non-wide receiver to take home the Biletnikoff Award continues.

Two players share the rare distinction of being two-time Biletnikoff Award winners. Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech was the first to do so in 2007 and 2008. Shortly after that, Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon became the second back-to-back and two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award in 2010 and 2011.

The Pittsburgh Panthers are home to three all-time winners, including the most recent recipient of the award, Justin Addison. Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, and Alabama are tied for the most Biletnikoff Award winners entering the 2022 season, although Oklahoma State’s three awards were won by just two players as opposed to three individual winners for the Panthers and Crimson Tide.

Here is a complete look at every Biletnikoff Award winner.

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Penn State receiving duo named to Biletnikoff Award watch list

Penn State lands two receivers on Biletnikoff Award watch list.

Two of Penn State’s top offensive weapons made an appearance on another college football award watch list on Thursday. After the release of the Davey O’Brien Award watch list and the Doak Walker Award watch list earlier this week, each including a Penn State player, Thursday’s attention shifted to receivers with the release of the Biletnikoff Award watch list for the upcoming 2022 season.

[autotag]Parker Washington[/autotag] and [autotag]Mitchell Tinsley[/autotag] each made an appearance on the watch list for the nation’s top receiver. The Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the nation’s top receiver by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, with anyone who catches a pass eligible for the award regardless of position. To date, every winner of the award has been a wide receiver, as the award had historically been just for wide receivers until more recent years.

Washington is Penn State’s leading receiver returning from 2021 after hauling in 64 catches for 820 yards and four touchdowns. Washington was a secondary receiver behind Dotson, who was a first-round draft pick of the Washington Commanders, but Washington offered plenty of highlights to stand on his own as a big-play receiver for the Penn State offense.

Tinsley comes to Penn State from Western Kentucky. Like Washington, Tinsley was the team’s second-leading receiver for the Hilltoppers in a pass-heavy attack led by quarterback Bailey Zappe. Tinsley had 87 catches for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns and was still the team’s second-leading receiver! Jerreth Sterns was Western Kentucky’s leading receiver but Tinsley’s move to Penn State figures to work out quite well for the Nittany Lions.

The duo of Washington and Tinsley alone makes for a solid receiving combination for quarterback Sean Clifford and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich to rely on. Adding KeAndre Lambert-Smith as another option makes for a potentially dangerous passing game if the offensive line gives Clifford time to work.

Former Penn State wide receiver [autotag]Bobby Engram[/autotag] was the first player to ever win the Biletnikoff Award, taking home the new award in 1994 following Penn State’s undefeated season. But Engram is the only Biletnikoff Award winner in school history.

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The last Big Ten player to win the Biletnikoff Award was Braylon Edwards of Michigan in 2004.

Last year’s winner of the BiletnikoffAward was Jordan Addison of Pittsburgh. Addison transferred to USC during the offseason.

Other notable Biletnikoff Award winners include Randy Moss of Marshall, Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh, Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech, two-time winners Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech and Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State, Ja’Marr Chase of LSU, and 2020 Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith of Alabama.

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Georgia football TE Brock Bowers named to Biletnikoff Award watch list

More preseason love for Brock Bowers.

Georgia tight end Brock Bowers has been named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list.

This award, named after former Florida State and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, is presented annually to college football’s most outstanding pass catcher, regardless of position.

Bowers will only be a sophomore next season but was surely America’s top tight end in 2021. He was easily Georgia’s biggest offensive weapon last season and reeled in 56 catches for 882 yards, 13 receiving touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown en route to being named a member of the Associated Press and Coaches’ All-SEC First Team. His 13 receiving touchdowns are a single season record at UGA. He was also named the SEC Freshman of the Year.

Bowers was also named to the 2022 Maxwell Award watch list, given out annually to the person deemed the best college football player of the year by sportscasters, sportswriters, and coaches.