Tag: Mackey Award

Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans lands on another preseason watch list

Evans is very highly thought of entering the season

If the preseason award watch lists are correct, then Notre Dame football tight end[autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] is in line for a big season.

The senior had already been named to the Biletnikoff Award and Comeback Player of the Year Award’s watchlists. On Friday another outlet named Evans to its watchlist, the [autotag]Mackey Award[/autotag], given out to the nation’s top tight end.

Irish faithful are fully aware of this honor, even if Tyler Eifert is the only former player to actually win the award. Evans will have his shot this year, as Notre Dame’s offense will look drastically different in 2024. With more of an emphasis on the passing game, the tight end should see plenty of opportunities to put up big statistics.

If Evans can gain 800-plus yards with around 8 touchdowns, he will surely be in the conversation to take home the award. It may seem like a lofty goal, but with this offense it is entirely possible.

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LSU tight end Mason Taylor named to Mackey Award preseason watch list

Mason Taylor could be poised to play an even bigger role for the Tigers in Year 3.

LSU’s run of players on preseason award watch lists continued on Friday as tight end [autotag]Mason Taylor[/autotag] was named to the watch list for the Mackey Award, given annually to the top tight end in the nation.

Taylor, who enters his junior season, has been a major contributor in his first two years with the Tigers. He already ranks fourth all-time among LSU tight ends with 74 catches, finishing third on the team in each of his first two campaigns, and has 762 career yards to go with four touchdowns.

With both [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] moving on after this season, Taylor could shoulder an even bigger load in the passing game in 2024.

Taylor becomes the second LSU pass-catcher to be named to an award watch list, joining receiver transfer [autotag]CJ Daniels[/autotag], who is on the Biletnikoff watch list. [autotag]Kyren Lacy[/autotag] was notoriously absent from the list.

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Clemson tight end Jake Briningstool named to Mackey Award Preseason Watch List

Jake Briningstool is one of 11 ACC players named to the 2024 Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. The award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding tight end.

Clemson tight end Jake Briningstool was named to the 2024 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Friday. The annual award recognizes the most outstanding tight end in college football.

Briningstool had 50 catches for 498 yards and five touchdowns while starting all 13 games for the Tigers a season ago. The senior from Brentwood, Tenn., had a season-high nine catches in Clemson’s 38-35 victory over Kentucky in the Gator Bowl, finishing with 91 yards.

He totaled five catches for a season-high 126 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers’ 28-20 double-overtime loss at Miami on Oct. 21.

Semifinalists for the award will be announced Oct. 29 with the three finalists announced Nov. 26. The winner will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards Dec. 12 on ESPN.

Briningstool was one of 11 ACC tight ends named to the Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. Pitt’s Gavin Bartholomew was also named to the list, as was North Carolina’s John Copenhaver and Bryson Nesbit, Virginia Tech’s Nick Gallo, NC State’s Justin Joly, Florida State’s Kyle Morlock, Louisville’s Mark Redman, Cal’s Jack Endries, Stanford’s Sam Roush and SMU’s RJ Maryland.

Clemson has one winner in the history of the Mackey Award, established in 2020. Former Tiger Dwayne Allen won the award in 2011. Georgia’s Brock Bowers won the Mackey Award last season.

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Ferguson, Laloulu makes respective preseason watch lists in 2024

Tight end Terrance Ferguson and center Iapani Laloulu makes respective preseason watch lists for their positions in 2024.

It wouldn’t be a preseason watch list without at least one Oregon Duck on it.

Duck tight end Terrance Ferguson was selected to the preseason watch list for the 2024 John Mackey Award and offensive lineman Iapani Laloulu was named to the watch list for the 2024 Rimington Trophy.

The Mackey Award is presented to the nation’s top tight end, while the Rimington Trophy honors college football’s most outstanding center, which Laloulu will be playing for Oregon for the first time this season.

Ferguson enters 2024 with 91 career receptions, tied for fourth-most all-time by an Oregon tight end and just 33 away from the program record of 124 that was set by Ed Dickson. Ferguson’s 13 career touchdown receptions are tied for third-most by an Ducks tight end, and he is just two back of the program record of  Josh Wilcox’s 15.

The current tight end was a first-team all-Pac-12 selection in 2023, tying for the second-most receptions in a season with a career-high 42. He racked up 414 receiving yards and six touchdowns, tied for sixth-most among all FBS tight ends. Five of Ferguson’s six touchdowns came in the final six games, including a pair of TD grabs in the Pac-12 Championship Game against Washington.

Georgia’s Brock Bowers won last year’s Mackey Award for the second time.

Laloulu, known as Poncho to his teammates, is expected to take over as Oregon’s starting center following the departure of Jackson Powers-Johnson, who in 2023 became the first Duck and first Pac-12 player to win the Rimington Trophy. Laloulu was a 247Sports true freshman all-American while playing in all 14 games for the Ducks.

He made his first career start at center in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl against Liberty. Showing his versatility, Laloulu played 413 total snaps as a freshman, including 183 at right guard, 116 at left guard and 111 at center, while helping the Ducks lead the nation with just five sacks allowed.

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Georgia TE Brock Bowers named Mackey Award finalist

Georgia football TE Brock Bowers named a Mackey Award finalist

Georgia Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers is one of three finalists for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end.

Bowers took home the award last year over Sam LaPorta of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Michael Mayer of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Other finalists this year include Ohio State’s Cade Stover and Colorado State’s Dallin Holker.

The Napa, California, native has been the most dominant tight end in college football over the last three seasons. Bowers, a junior, has caught 170 passes for 2,485 yards (14.6 avg.) and 26 touchdowns in his career. He has also rushed 19 times for 193 yards and five touchdowns.

Even though Bowers missed two games this season due to a surgically repaired ankle, he still leads Georgia in receiving yards (661) and touchdown receptions (6). Bowers missed the Georgia Tech game, but will look to play against Alabama in the SEC title game on Dec. 2.

The winner of the John Mackey Award will be announced on Dec. 8 during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.

Georgia TE Brock Bowers earns weekly Mackey Award honor

Brock Bowers is the Mackey Award Tight End of the Week…

Georgia All-American tight end Brock Bowers is coming off of his best game of the season at Auburn.

After finishing the first-half with two catches for nine yards, Bowers exploded in the second-half with six grabs for 148 yards and the game-winning touchdown.

The Mackey Award, given annually to the nation’s top tight end, recognized Bowers as the tight end of the week for his performance versus the Tigers. Bowers won the award last season.

Bowers is on track to set multiple all-time Georgia receiving records. At his current pace, Bowers will set the single-season receiving yards record this season, and he is seven scores away from tying Terrance Edwards for the most receiving touchdowns in UGA history. Bowers already owns the single-season receiving touchdowns record.

It’s plays like these that set Bowers apart from the rest.

Brock Bowers has already tied Georgia legend A.J. Green for the second-most receiving touchdowns in school history with 23.

Cade Stover makes Mackey Award watch list

Cade Stover could be primed for a huge year this fall. #GoBucks

Ohio State tight end Cade Stover decided to put off NFL dreams for another year in Columbus, and there’s a good chance that it could pay off as one of the best years a tight end has ever had in the Scarlet and Gray. If so, then there’s a potential for some good things at the end of the 2023 rainbow.

One of those things would be for Stover to be in the running for the Mackey Award that goes to college football’s best tight end annually. So far so good because on Friday he was named to the Macky Award’s preseason watch list along with 47 other players.

Stover was a semifinalist for the Mackey Award in 2022, one that saw him haul in 36 catches for 406 yards and six touchdowns. The thought is that he will take an even further step in 2023 and potentially be one of the first tight ends off the board in the NFL draft this coming spring.

So far, the Buckeyes have had nine players appear on the parade of college football preseason watch lists and we’ll continue to follow even more that are announced as we progress towards the start of the 2023 season.

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Oklahoma TE Austin Stogner named to Mackey Award watch list

Oklahoma’s Austin Stogner was named to the Mackey Award watch list.

Watch list season is upon us as several different lists come out just about every day. One that came out Friday is the [autotag]Mackey Award[/autotag] watch list which goes to the nation’s best tight end.

[autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag], who returns to the Oklahoma Sooners after one year playing for the [autotag]South Carolina Gamecocks[/autotag], made the list. Stogner has had an up-and-down career, but is hoping to experience a similar breakout as Brayden Willis did a year ago.

In his first year getting a lot of action in 2020, he had more than 400 yards and three touchdowns. The future looked bright before an injury at the end of that season almost ended his football career.

In 2021, he never looked the same. He looked like he had lost some of that burst and separation ability. He then transferred and had a little more than 200 yards and only one touchdown.

Now he’s back and has to be the leader in a very young room. Stogner, now three seasons removed from his injury, hopes to show the flashes he had in 2020. This is an offense that uses the tight end a lot. We saw it just a year ago with [autotag]Willis[/autotag].

Prior to 2022, Willis hadn’t eclipsed 200 yards in a season. He had just six total touchdowns in four seasons. In his final season, he had more than 500 yards and seven touchdowns. He arguably was the most important player to the offense a year ago because of what he did in the passing game and as a run blocker.

Stogner has the ability to do what Willis did a year ago, and if he can return to his athletic form, could surpass the breakout year from Oklahoma former tight end.

Oklahoma is a school that has done pretty well at tight end historically. [autotag]Mark Andrews[/autotag] is the only Sooner to take home the award. But there’s a strong argument to be made that [autotag]Jermaine Gresham[/autotag] should have won in 2008. It still baffles me he was first-team All-Big 12, and the guy that won the award was selected to the second.

But that’s a conversation for a different day. For Stogner, he just needs to be that safety blanket and go-to guy in the red zone. Something he is definitely capable of being and something [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] and the Sooners need.

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Mason Taylor named to Mackey Award watch list

Mason Taylor enters his sophomore year with high expectations after a record-setting freshman campaign.

LSU sophomore tight end [autotag]Mason Taylor[/autotag] has been named to the watch list for the John Mackey Award, which is given annually to college football’s top tight end.

Taylor enters his sophomore year with huge expectations after a very productive true freshman campaign. He set LSU freshman records for receptions (38) and receiving yards (414) by a tight end.

His most memorable moment came when he caught the decisive two-point conversion against Alabama, and he ended the season on a high note, recording season-bests with six receptions against Georgia and 88 receiving yards against Purdue.

The tight end plays a crucial role in offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s offense, and that allowed Taylor to emerge as a true freshman.

His production in 2023 may be limited by a group of talented pass-catchers, but he has the potential to be one of the most productive tight ends in the SEC, if not the entire country.

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Jake Briningstool placed on the Mackey Award watch list

Jake Briningstool has been named to the Mackey Award watch list, awarded to the most outstanding collegiate tight end.

The Friends of John Mackey organization announced today that tight end Jake Briningstool has been named as one of 48 candidates on the watch list for the Mackey Award, presented annually to the nation’s top tight end.

The full 2023 Mackey Award Watch List is included below. Visit the 2023 Preseason Honors hub for more preseason accolades garnered by Clemson.

The Friends of John Mackey have released the 2023 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. Given annually to the most outstanding collegiate tight end, the award recipient is selected by vote of the John Mackey Award Selection Committee.

Erick All, Iowa
Elijah Arroyo, Miami
AJ Barner, Michigan
Gavin Bartholomew, Pitt
Jaheim Bell, Florida State
Brock Bowers, Georgia
Jake Briningstool, Clemson
Sean Brown, Jacksonville State
Oscar Cardenas, UTSA
Jalin Conyers, Arizona
John Copenhaver, North Carolina
Devin Culp, Washington
Oscar Delp, Georgia
CJ Dipper, Alabama
Mason Fairchild, Kansas
Rivaldo Fairweather, Auburn
Terrance Ferguson, Oregan
Nick Gallo, Virginia Tech
Donovan Green, Texas A&M
Brady Hunt, Ball State
Neal Johnson, Louisiana
Theo Johnson, Penn State
Trey Knox, South Carolina
Brant Kuite, Utah
Luke Lachey, Iowa
Johnny Langan, Rutgers
Colston Loveland, Michigan
David Martin-Robinson, Temple
Josiah Miamen, FIU
Bryson Nesbit, North Carolina
Trent Pennix, NC State
Caden Prieskorn, Ole Miss
Mark Redman, San Diego State
Tip Reiman, Illinois
Isaac Rex, BYU
Carson Ryan, UCLA
Ja’Tavion Sanders, Texas
Ben Sinnott, Kansas
Brevyn Spann-Ford, Minnesota
Austin Stogner, Oklahoma
Cade Stover, Ohio State
George Takacs, Boston College
Mason Tayor, LSU
Michael Trigg, Ole Miss
Jacob Warren, Tennessee
Jared Wiley, TCU
Thomas Yasmin, Utah
Benjamin Yurosek, Stanford

–Via Clemson Athletic Communications

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