College football’s awards circuit took center stage at the College Football Hall of Fame Thursday night, and LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was a big winner. Burrow, who already has been named the AP Player of the Year and many feel will be putting his hands around the Heisman Trophy this weekend, was awarded the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year and the Maxwell Award for two-thirds of the college football triple crown.
Burrow is the first player from LSU to win the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year award in the history of the award, which was first presented in 1967. Burrow also took home the Davey O’Brien Award for the nation’s top quarterback, which is also a first for the LSU program.
Congrats @LSUfootball senior QB Joe Burrow, the 2019 @WalterCampFF Player of the Year.
— Walter Camp Football (@WalterCampFF) December 12, 2019
Burrow is the 53rd recipient of the award, which is voted on by the FBS head coaches and sports information directors.https://t.co/sl0kMa8FKy#WCGameChanger pic.twitter.com/QD1pLo8jr0
Burrow also won the first Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien Award in program history. And he wasn’t the only Tiger making some program history. Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was named the winner of this year’s Biletnikoff Award, marking the second time a player from LSU was named the nation’s most outstanding receiver (Josh Reed, 2001).
The Best Receiver in the Country
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) December 13, 2019
Ja’Marr Chase is the winner of the 2019 Biletnikoff Award! pic.twitter.com/EYAeJIOB4G
Burrow was not the only LSU player to collect some hardware at the award show. Grant Delpit won the Jim Thorpe Award for the top defensive back. Delpit is the third player from LSU to win the award, with Patrick Peterson and Morris Claiborne won the award in 2010 and 2011, respectively. It is the third consecutive season a player form the sEC has won the award (Minkah Fitzpatrick of Alabama in 2017 and Deandre Baker of Georgia in 2018).
While Burrow was in the midst of taking home some hardware back to Baton Rouge for the first time, Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor was doing something that is pretty common in Madison. Taylor was named the winner of the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s best running back. It was his second striaght year winning the award, entering Taylor in some rare company as one of three two-time winners of the award. Darren McFadden of Arkansas and Ricky Williams of Texas are the only other back-to-back winners.
Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor is the first RB to win @DoakWalkerAward in back-to-back years since Arkansas RB Darren McFadden in 2006-07. Only other two-time winner is Ricky Williams (Texas, 1997-98).
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) December 13, 2019
Ohio State defensive end Chase Young brought an end to a Bednarik Award drought for the Big Ten by being the first player from a Big Ten school to win the award since 2007. Penn State’s Dan Connor had been the most recent Big Ten player to win the award for the nation’s top defensive player. Young also made some program history by doing so.
Young is the first Buckeye to win the Bednarik Award.
— Bill Rabinowitz 🗞 (@brdispatch) December 13, 2019
Below is a list of all of the awards presented during the show. A handful of the awards were previously announced but formally presented Thursday night.
(Winners in bold, listed along with finalists for the awards)
WALTER CAMP PLAYER OF THE YEAR
(College player of the year)
Joe Burrow, LSU (Sr.)
Justin Fields, Ohio State (So.)
Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State (So.)
Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin (Jr.)
Chase Young, Ohio State (Jr)
MAXWELL AWARD
(College player of the year)
Joe Burrow, LSU (Sr.)
Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma (Sr.)
Chase Young, Ohio State (Jr.)
CHUCK BEDNARIK AWARD
(College defensive player of the year)
Derrick Brown, Auburn (Sr.)
Isaiah Simmons, Clemson (Jr.)
Chase Young, Ohio State (Jr.)
DAVEY O’BRIEN NATIONAL QUARTERBACK AWARD
(Nation’s best quarterback)
Joe Burrow, LSU (Sr.)
Justin Fields, Ohio State (So.)
Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma (Sr.)
BILETNIKOFF AWARD
(Outstanding receiver)
Ja’Marr Chase, LSU (So.)
CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma (Jr.)
Michael Pittman Jr., USC (Sr.)
DOAK WALKER AWARD
(Nation’s premier running back)
Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State (So.)
Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin (Jr.)
J.K. Dobbins, Ohio State (Jr.)
OUTLAND TROPHY
(Nation’s most outstanding interior lineman)
Tyler Biadasz, Wisconsin (Jr.)
Derrick Brown, Auburn (Sr.)
Penei Sewell, Oregon (So.)
PAYCOM JIM THORPE AWARD
(Nation’s best defensive back)
Grant Delpit, LSU (Jr.)
Jeff Okudah, Ohio State (Jr.)
J.R. Reed, Georgia (Sr.)
LOU GROZA COLLEGIATE PLACE-KICKER AWARD
(Nation’s outstanding placekicker)
Rodrigo Blankenship, Georgia (Sr.)
Keith Duncan, Iowa (Jr.)
Blake Mazza, Washington State (So.)
RAY GUY AWARD
(College punter of the year)
Dane Roy, Houston (Sr.)
Max Duffy, Kentucky (Jr.)
Sterling Hofrichter, Syracuse (Sr.)
THE HOME DEPOT COACH OF THE YEAR
(Announced Dec. 11)
Ed Orgeron, LSU
DISNEY SPIRIT AWARD
Casey O’Brien, Minnesota