Tag: John Mackey Award

Kyle Pitts wins Mackey Award as nation’s top tight end

Florida’s Kyle Pitts on Thursday night won the John Mackey Award, which recognizes the best tight end in college football.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by the Gainesville Sun and has been republished in its entirety below. 

Florida’s Kyle Pitts on Thursday night won the John Mackey Award, which recognizes the best tight end in college football.

Pitts is the second tight end in school history to win the Mackey Award, joining Aaron Hernandez who won the award in 2009. Ben Troupe (2003) and Jake McGee (2015) were named finalists in their respective years.

Earlier Thursday, Pitts was named a Walter Camp First Team All-American, the Walter Camp Football Foundation announced.

Pitts becomes the first unanimous first-team All-American since Vernon Hargreaves III in 2015. Both Pitts and Hargreaves were named to the first teams of the AFCA, AP, FWAA, Sporting News and Walter Camp All-America teams.

His dominant performance this season also landed him a spot as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award (nation’s best pass catcher). But, as expected, Alabama’s DeVonta Smith won the Biletnikoff Award.

Pitts quickly became the best tight end and one of the top pass catchers in the country this season with 43 receptions, 770 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Pitts’ 12 receiving touchdowns this season were the second-highest total by a tight end in Southeastern Conference history. Vanderbilt’s Allama Matthews (14 in 1982) holds the SEC record. His 770 yards this year ties Kirk Kirkpatrick (1990) for second on Florida’s single-season record list for receiving yards by a tight end.

The junior is the first tight end in Gators history and the eighth FBS tight end in the last five years (including 2020) with three games of 100-plus receiving yards in the same season.

Alabama’s Mac Jones won the Davey O’Brien Award over Florida’s Kyle Trask and Trevor Lawrence of Clemson.

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Florida tight end Pitts the favorite to win this postseason award

Kyle Pitts is one of 3 finalists for both the John Mackey Award for the best tight end and the Biletnikoff Award for the top pass-catcher.

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Florida tight end Kyle Pitts has the opportunity to bring home some hardware tonight. The standout player and likely first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft is nominated for two awards tonight at the Home Depot College Football Awards.

Pitts is one of three finalists for both the John Mackey award, given to the nation’s best tight end, and the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the top pass-catcher in the country. Pitts is the first player to be nominated for both since Chase Coffman, the 2008 winner of the Mackey.

Though Heisman Trophy-winning receiver Devonta Smith is all but guaranteed to take home the Biletnikoff, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach thinks Pitts is the favorite to win the Mackey over finalists Charlie Kolar from Iowa State and Jalen Wydermyer from Texas A&M. Here’s what he said about this year’s race for the Mackey.

Who should win: Pitts. He was a matchup nightmare for any defense he faced because of his height, speed and length. He was PFF’s top-rated tight end with a 96.2 overall grade, finishing with 43 receptions for 770 yards with 12 touchdowns. He didn’t have a drop in 65 targets and 39 of his catches were for first downs.

Who will win: Pitts

Pitts is the first Florida finalist for the Mackey since Aaron Hernandez in 2009, who won the award.

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Wisconsin TE Jake Ferguson leads the nation in this stat according to PFF

On Monday morning, Pro Football Focus tweeted out a statistic ranking the most career broken tackles by returning tight ends in college football. Jake Ferguson led college football in this stat with 17 career broken tackles.

On Monday morning, Pro Football Focus tweeted out a statistic ranking the most career broken tackles by returning tight ends in college football. Jake Ferguson led college football in this stat with 17 career broken tackles.

The others that made the list are Matt Bushman from BYU with 15, Peyton Hendershot from Indiana with 14,  Brevin Jordan from Miami with 12, and lastly Pat Freiermuth from Penn State with 10.

Jake Ferguson has become a security blanket for Wisconsin quarterbacks in his time with the Badgers and has racked up 63 receptions for 804 yards and six touchdowns in his two-year career.

Ferguson has mainly been used as a blocking tight end for Jonathan Taylor thus far, but expectations for the junior tight end are high because of his naming to the watch list for the John Mackey Award. Jake Ferguson will have to step up this season to carry the offense for Wisconsin that will be losing its leading receiver and rusher from last year.

If you would like to read more about Jake Ferguson, and his naming to the John Mackey Award Watch List, click here.

Tight end Luke Farrell named to Mackey Award preseason watch list

Ohio State tight end Luke Farrell has been named to the John Mackey Award preseason watchlist as announced Saturday.

Another day, another Ohio State football player on a preseason watch list. This time, it’s Buckeye tight end Luke Farrell’s turn, as he has been placed on the Mackey Award preseason watch list. The Mackey Award goes annually to the best tight end in college football and has been handed out since the year 2000 by Nassau County Sports Commission.

Farell is entering his senior season at Ohio State and has blossomed into an all-around tight end. Not only is he dangerous as a pass-catcher downfield, but he’s arguably the best blocking tight end the Buckeyes have. His numbers declined just a bit from 2018 to 2019 because of the emergence of fellow tight end Jeremy Ruckert, but he’s a talent that has a shot at being drafted into the NFL next April.

The Mackey Award is all set to be handed out live on The Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 10, 2020. We add hopefully to anything relating to awards at this point, but you get the idea.

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Ohio State has never had a winner of the John Mackey Award.