The push for the College Football Playoff is not the only thing heating up in November. Award season is started to come closer and closer. On Monday, the Maxwell Football Club released its list of semifinalists for two of the top individual awards in college football, the Maxwell Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award. Every Power 5 conference is represented on the Maxwell Award semifinalist list with 2 from the ACC, 4 from the Big 12, 2 from the Big Ten, 4 from the Pac-12 and 2 from the SEC. The SEC led the power conferences with seven players named to the Chuck Bednarik Award semifinalists with four.
Last year’s winner for the two Maxwell Football Club awards were Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota (Maxwell Award) and Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright (Bednarik Award). A quarterback has won the Maxwell Award 13 times since 2000 and has included players like Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. Notre Dame running back C.J. Prosise gives the Irish a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the list of all-time winners by school. Notre Dame and Penn State each have seven Maxwell Award winners for the most of all-time. Navy, Ohio State and Texas each have four winners.
Penn State also has more Bednarik Award winners than any other school with four. LSU has a chance to come within one with linebacker Kendall Beckwith named a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award. Past winners of the Bednarik Award, first awarded in 1995, include Pat Fitzgerald, Charles Woodson, LaVar Arrington, Ndamukong Suh, Tyrann Mathieu, Manti Te’o and Aaron Donald.
The winners of the Maxwell Award and Bednarik Award will be announced on December 10, 2015 during ESPN’s college football awards show. Three finalists will be announced for each award prior to that on November 24. A formal presentation for the awards will be held during the Maxwell Football CLub’s annual awards gala in Atlantic City, New Jersey, currently scheduled for March 11, 2016 at the Tropicana Resort & Casino.
2015 Maxwell Award Semifinalists
- RB Devontae Booker, Utah
- QB Trevone Boykin, TCU
- WR Corey Coleman, Baylor
- QB Connor Cook, Michigan State
- RB Dalvin Cook, Florida State
- WR Josh Doctson, TCU
- QB Brandon Doughty, Western Kentucky
- RB Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State
- RB Leonard Fournette, LSU
- RB Royce Freeman, Oregon
- RB Derrick Henry, Alabama
- QB Cody Kessler, USC
- QB Paxton Lynch, Memphis
- QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
- RB Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
- QB Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
- RB C.J. Prosise, Notre Dame
- QB Keenan Reynolds, Navy
- QB Greg Ward Jr., Houston
- QB Deshaun Watson, Clemson
2015 Chuck Bednarik Award Semifinalists
- LB Kendall Beckwith, LSU
- NT Andrew Billings, Baylor
- DE Joey Bosa, Ohio State
- DE Jonathan Bullard, Florida
- DE Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State
- S Jeremy Cash, Duke
- LB Su’a Cravens, USC
- DE Myles Garrett, Texas A&M
- CB Vernon Hargreaves III, Florida
- DE Shaq Lawson, Clemson
- CB Jourdan Lewis, Michigan
- LB Tyler Matakevich, Temple
- DE Carl Nassib, Penn State
- DT Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
- DE Emmanueal Ogbah, Oklahoma State
- LB Reggie Ragland, Alabama
- CB Jalen Ramsey, Florida State
- DL A’Shawn Robinson, Alabama
- LB Joe Schobert, Wisconsin
- LB Jaylon Smith, Notre Dame