Four players from the FBS level of college football are in the running for one of the most prestigious awards in amateur athletics.
Wednesday, a total of 28 semifinalists for the 2016 Sullivan Award were announced. The four with college football connections include 2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) and 2017 Heisman Trophy finalist Bryce Love (Stanford), along with Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and Virginia’s Micah Kiser.
That quartet is looking to become the fourth college football player to win the award in the last five years, the most recent being Navy’s Keenan Reynolds in 2016.
Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott was the 2015 winner of the Sullivan, while Penn State offensive lineman John Urschel claimed the 2014 honor. Six other college football players have earned an honor handed out annually since 1930: Felix “Doc” Blanchard (Army, 1945), Arnold Tucker (Army, 1946), Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007) and Andrew Rodriguez (Army, 2011) .
Clemson’s Deshaun Watson was a semifinalist for last year’s award, the only college football player up for the honor in 2017.