Tag: John Mackey Award

Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans is a national award semifinalist

‘Mitchapolooza’ makes the cut

It has been a very successful bounce back season for Notre Dame tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag].

Early in the year, the senior continued to recover from offseason surgery, but made his first appearance in Week 2 against Northern Illinois. While the team’s result wasn’t what Evans was looking for, him getting back on the field was a significant development.

He’s had at least two catches every game, with his high of four coming against Georgia Tech. Evans hasn’t yet found the end zone, but that didn’t seem to matter to the [autotag]John Mackey Award[/autotag] committee, as on Tuesday they named him as one of its semifinalists.

The field won’t be easy for Evans to take home the award, but being named one of the eight top tight ends in the country isn’t anything to scoff at. Hopefully another week off helps with his recovery, and we see “Mitchapalooza” making a big splash for the Irish as they try and make the College Football Playoff.

Purdue Boilermakers defensive back Antonio Stevens (11) defends the pass to Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Mitchell Evans (88) Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, during the NCAA football game at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind.

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Thomas Fidone II named to John Mackey Award watch list

Nebraska tight end Thomas Fidone has been named to Mackey Award watch list.

Nebraska’s returning starting tight end, Thomas Fidone II, has earned a spot on the John Mackey Award watch list. The award is handed out to the nation’s best tight end; no Cornhusker has ever won it.

Fidone enters 2024 as one of the Husker’s top offensive weapons after recording 25 receptions for 260 yards and four touchdowns a season ago.

After not recording a reception against Minnesota in last year’s season opener, Fidone recorded receptions in each of the Husker’s 11 remaining games on the season, including eight games of two receptions or more.

This offseason, the Huskers recruited one of the nation’s top tight ends, Carter Nelson, to join the program. However, in hopes of creating a more dynamic offense, Matt Rhule and his coaching staff opted to move Nelson to wide receiver, specifically in the slot.

The move will also allow Fidone and Nelson to see playing time throughout the season, including on the field at the same time, perhaps giving the Huskers some potential mismatch advantages.

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Tyler Warren named to Mackey Award watch list for 2024

Tyler Warren is hoping to become Penn State’s first winner of the John Mackey Award in 2024.

Coming into the 2024 season, Penn State knows its best tight end on the roster will be Tyler Warren. Some might even go so far as to suggest he is the best tight end in the Big Ten. And while it remains to be seen if it will be true or not, Warren is officially on the radar for the conversation about the nation’s best college tight end.

Warren was named on the watch list for the 2024 John Mackey Award, which is presented to the nation’s best tight end in college football. The award is presented by the Nassau County Sports Commission and is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, who was a standout for Syracuse from 1960-1962.

Warren is entering his fifth season at Penn State. Last year, Warren caught a career-high 34 passes for 422 yards with seven touchdowns. Warren was Penn State’s second-leading receiver in 2023 and is the team’s leading receiver returning in 2024 (wide receiver KeAndre Lambert Smith was Penn State’s leading receiver in 2023; Lambert-Smith has transferred to Auburn).

Penn State has never had a Mackey Award winner since the award was first presented in 2000. The first recipient of the national award was Tim Stratton of Purdue. Brock Bowers of Georgia won each of the last two seasons to become the first two-time winner of the award, and obviously the first to do so in back-to-back seasons.

T.J. Hockenson of Iowa was the most recent winner of the Mackey Award from the Big Ten, winning the award in 2018.

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Pro Football Focus selects one Notre Dame player to win national award

It’s exactly who you think it is

Although we are at the unofficial midpoint of the college football season, many outlets have come out with their midseason All-American teams, award winners and front-runner for the four College Football Playoff spots.

Pro Football Focus released their midseason awards and even though I don’t agree with some of them (Alabama’s [autotag]Bryce Young[/autotag] being the Heisman front runner), there is one we completely agree on, their midseason John Mackey Award winner, Notre Dame tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag].

The junior has been phenomenal this season, he’s been the best player on the Irish’s team this season. Through six games this season, Mayer has caught 38 balls for 411 yards and 5 touchdowns. Those are All-American type numbers.

Mayer has been the exception on the Irish offense this fall, in fact, he’s been exceptional. The one constant figure for Notre Dame all season should get recognized as one of the best and this, although not official, is a step towards potentially hoisting some hardware for the star Irish tight end after the season ends.

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Johnny Lanagan named to Mackey Award Watch List

Johnny Langan is on the watchlist for a national award.

As the 2023 college football season draws closer, there is optimism in Piscataway about what this season will bring. The Rutgers roster is full of veterans, and the schedule has a few winnable games. One player that will be key to their success is Johnny Lanagan, who was named to the Mackey Award watch list on Friday.

During the 2022 campaign, Lanagan hauled in 31 receptions for 296 yards. He had at least one catch in every game and found the endzone once. The New Jersey native also made an impact on the ground with 139 yards on 31 carries.

This upcoming season will mark Lanagan’s sixth in college football. In 45 games, he has 20 touchdowns and 483 receiving yards. The talented tight end can also play quarterback if needed. Regardless of the situation, Lanagan has made an impact whenever he is on the field since making his Rutgers debut in 2019.

While Lanagan will focus on putting Rutgers in a position to win, he will also be looking to show why he has received Mackey Award recognition. Each year the award is given to the best tight end in college football. Past winners include Kyle Pitts, T.J. Hockenson, and Mark Andrews.

To join that talented group Lanagan will have to take his game to another level. During the 2022 campaign, he set career highs in receptions with 31 and receiving yards per game with 24.7. Even matching those numbers would be huge for a Rutgers team not known for its offense.

Although the Scarlet Knights tight end already had plenty of motivation for the 2023 campaign, Friday’s news adds more fuel to the fire.

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Penn State TE Theo Johnson named to John Mackey Award watch list

Theo Johnson hopes to become Penn State’s first John Mackey Award winner.

While most of the attention was placed on the massive realignment news flowing around the Big Ten and Big 12, college football’s award season continued to roll along on Friday with the release of the watch list for this year’s John Mackey Award. The top tight end award’s watch list included Penn State’s [autotag]Theo Johnson[/autotag] to get the season started.

This is the second year in a row Johnson has been named to the Mackey award watch list. Johnson is coming off a 2022 season with 20 receptions for 328 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games played. Johnson has 43 career receptions for 597 yards and five touchdowns during his three years at Penn State. He is expected to be Penn State’s top tight end option this season following the departure of Brenton Strange to the NFL.

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The John Mackey Award was first presented in 2000 to Purdue’s Tim Stratton. Penn State does not have a Mackey Award winner, and Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson was the last Big Ten player to take home the award in 2018. Five Big Ten players have won the award.

Last year’s Mackey Award winner was Brock Bowers of Georgia. Other notable winners of the award include Kyle Pitts of Florida (2020), Kellen Winslow II of Miami (2003), and Dallas Clark of Iowa (2002).

You can view the full watch list for the John Mackey Award in the official press release from the award’s official website.

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ChatGPT’s top 10 Notre Dame tight ends not including Michael Mayer

Remember any of these guys?

ChatGPT is a useful AI writing tool, but it’s not without its flaws. You have to be specific in what you want when you enter a prompt. Otherwise, it will assume things that aren’t true, and you have to enter the prompt again to account for the things that weren’t correct initially. While it doesn’t take much time to edit and regenerate prompts, it still can be mildly frustrating.

Another problem, at least at the moment, is that it only accounts for information through September 2021. Since then, [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] became arguably the best tight end in Notre Dame history. So when we asked ChatGPT to generate what it believes is the program’s top 10 tight ends, Mayer wasn’t included.

The point of this particular introduction is to explain why Mayer isn’t on this list. But hopefully, you have fond memories of the 10 names ChatGPT did generate. Without further adieu, here it is, edited for accuracy:

Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer finishes as a Pro Football Focus top 10 player of 2022

No surprise from us

The [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football team is going to miss tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag]. A lot.

It wasn’t surprising that Mayer opted to move on to the NFL, losing out on the [autotag]John Mackey Award[/autotag] was. Georgia’s [autotag]Brock Bowers[/autotag] won the award for the nations best tight end, but if the voters looked at Pro Football Focus’ top 101 collegiate players from this past year, they might have been swayed to vote differently.

Mayer ended up as the 9th overall player, four spots ahead of Bowers, and the only tight end to rank inside the top 10. After catching 67 receptions for 809 yards and 9 scores, the soon-to-be NFL star delivered on the hype.

We don’t know where Mayer will be playing football next, but wherever he ends up, that team will be very happy with his skill set.

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Texas TE Ja’Tavion Sanders makes preseason watch list for John Mackey Award

The award is given annually to the nation’s top tight end.

Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders is expected to burst onto the college football scene this season. Continue reading “Texas TE Ja’Tavion Sanders makes preseason watch list for John Mackey Award”

Jeremy Ruckert named to preseason Mackey Award watch list

Another Buckeye on a preseason award watch list. Do you expect Ruckert to have a major breakout campaign in 2021?

We’ve got another announcement of a preseason award watch list and that must mean we’ve got another Ohio State player appearing.

The John Mackey Award announced its 2021 preseason watch list on Friday and tight end Jeremy Ruckert is among the 56 names honored. The Mackey has been around since 2000 and recognizes college football’s best tight end annually. No Ohio State player has ever won the award.

Ruckert is entering his senior season, having put off his NFL dreams for one more year, and is expected to be the unquestioned No. 1 tight end in Ohio State’s offensive attack this season. He shared time with Luke Farrell over the last three seasons but has continually improved his big-play ability down the field.

In his career thus far, Ruckert has caught 28 passes for 36 yards and nine touchdowns. He was a key player in the win against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, catching three passes for 55 yards and two scores.

We can’t wait to see what Ruckert can do this fall as the main target at tight end.

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