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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