ESPN Awards show has Crimson tint as five players are honored
Six players from Alabama received awards during Thursday’s ESPN awards program. In all, seven trophies were collected by the Bama players. (Unv. Alabama Media Relations)
By TIM GAYLE
The University of Alabama College Football Awards Show was presented on Thursday night by Home Depot on ESPN.
If the College Football Awards Show wasn’t renamed, ESPN missed out on a good opportunity as a quintet of Crimson Tide players swept virtually every major award.
Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith won the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award, both presented to the nation’s top collegiate player, as well as the Biletnikoff Award, awarded to the nation’s top collegiate receiver.
Landon Dickerson won the Rimington Award, Nagee Harris won the Doak Walker Award, Mac Jones won the Davey O’Brien Award and Alex Leatherwood won the Outland Trophy.
That left the Jim Thorpe, Butkus, Bednarik and Bronko Nagurski awards as the only four major honors to keep Alabama from making a clean sweep of the 2020 awards.
Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy on Tuesday, captured the Maxwell Award on Thursday, awarded to the nation’s top college player. He is the fourth Alabama player to earn the honor, all coming in the last eight years -- AJ McCarron in 2013, Derrick Henry in 2015 and Tua Tagovailoa in 2018. He is the first wide receiver to earn the honor since Desmond Howard in 1991. Since that time, every recipient has been a quarterback except for Ricky Williams in 1998, Ron Dayne in 1999, Larry Johnson in 2002, Manti Te’o in 2012 and Henry in 2015.
Smith is the third Alabama player to win the Biletnikoff, joining former teammate Jerry Jeudy (2018) and Amari Cooper (2014) among the honorees.
Smith also earned the Walter Camp Award as the nation’s top collegiate player. He is the fifth wide receiver to take home the award, joining Tim Brown (1987), Raghib Ismail (1990), Howard (1991) and Larry Fitzgerald (2003).
The guy who throws Smith the ball, quarterback Mac Jones, became Alabama’s first-ever Davey O’Brien Award winner. Jones set the single-season passing record (4,036 yards) in a semifinal win over Notre Dame and currently owns the highest single-season pass efficiency rating (203.03) in the history of college football.
One of the most prestigious college football awards, presented since 1946, is the Outland Trophy that is given to the nation’s best interior lineman. Leatherwood took home that hardware with a 91.3 overall blocking grade, missing just two assignments all season and allowing just two sacks as the Tide’s left tackle. Earlier this season, Leatherwood was awarded the Jacobs Blocking Trophy to the Southeastern Conference’s top lineman and the Alabama offensive line earned the Joe Moore Award as the nation’s top offensive line.
Leatherwood joins Chris Samuels (1999), Andre Smith (2008), Barrett Jones (2011), Cam Robinson (2016) and Quinnen Williams (2018) as past Outland Trophy winners.
The Crimson Tide also captured the Rimington Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top collegiate center. Dickerson, like Leatherwood, missed just two assignments this season and allowed no sacks before suffering a season-ending injury in the SEC Championship Game against Florida. Dickerson joins Barrett Jones (2012) and Ryan Kelly (2015) as past winners of the award.
Harris became the third Tide rusher to earn the Doak Walker Award, joining Trent Richardson (2011) and Henry (2015). Harris leads the nation in total touchdowns (27) and rushing touchdowns (24) this season.
Trevon Moehrig of Texas Christian won the Jim Thorpe Award, honoring the nation’s top collegiate defensive back, while Miami kicker Jose Borregales won the Lou Groza Award, finishing ahead of finalists Patrick Surtain and Will Reichard, respectively, for the awards.
Notre Dame linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah won the Butkus Award, presented to the top linebacker, while Florida’s Kyle Pitts won the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s top tight end. Georgia Tech’s Pressley Harvin III earned the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter, while Tulsa’s Zaven Collins was honored as the nation’s top defensive player with both the Bednarik Award and the Bronko Nagurski Award. Pittsburgh’s Jimmy Morrissey was honored as the nation’s top walk-on with the Burlsworth Trophy and Clemson’s Darien Render was selected as the most inspirational player with the Disney Spirit Award. New Mexico’s Teton Saltes was awarded the Weurffel Trophy, presented to the player demonstrating the best community service.