As Alabama prepares for Monday’s national championship game, several Crimson Tide players were honored with individual awards Thursday at the Home Depot College Football Awards.
As expected, Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith won the Fred Biletnikoff Award (Best Recipient), while defender Mac Jones (Davey O’Brien), left-back Alex Leatherwood (Outland) and defender Najee Harris ( Doak Walker) have also been honored for outstanding seasons.
Here is the list of individual prizes whose winners were announced on Thursday:
Davey O’Brien Award: An All-American Associated Press from the first team, Jones threw for 4,036 meters with 36 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, who finished ahead of Jones in the Heisman Trophy vote, and Florida’s Kyle Trask were also finalists.
Fred Biletnikoff Award: It was fitting that Smith, who was the first receiver to win Heisman since Desmond Howard won it while playing for Michigan in 1991, took home Biletnikoff. The other two finalists, Elijah Moore, Ole Miss and Kyle Pitts from Florida, were also finalists. Smith caught 105 passes for 1,641 yards with 20 touchdowns with the championship game still to be played.
Doak Walker Award: Harris ran for 1,387 meters (6.1 meters in transport) with the best 24 touchdowns nationwide. He combined 303 yards in Alabama’s last two wins, against Florida in the SEC Championship (178) and Notre Dame in the football college playoff semifinals (125). The finalists were also Breece Hall from Iowa State, the most important noise of the nation and Travis Etienne, from Clemson.
Outland Trophy: Leatherwood is the third Crimson Tide member to win Outland since 2016, joining Quinnen Williams (2018) and Cam Robinson (2016). One of the best players on the NFL left, Leatherwood defeated Liam Eichenberg of Notre Dame and Daviyon Nixon of Iowa. Last season’s winner, Pena Sewell of Oregon, gave up before the season.
Chuck Bednarik Award: Zaven Collins of Tulsa won the award for the nation’s top defensive player ahead of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah of Notre Dame and Patrick Surtain II of Alabama. In eight games, Collins finished with 53 approaches, 11.5 loss approaches, four sacks and four interceptions. Collins was also honored with the Bronko Nagurski Award two weeks ago.
Lou Groza Award: Jose Borregales of Miami was named the best kicker of the nation after an almost perfect season. He converted 20 of 22 field goals – including 2 of 2 from 50 yards – and converted all 37 extra point attempts. Will Reichard of Alabama and BYU Jake Oldroyd were the other finalists.
Ray Guy Award: Pressley Harvin III of Georgia Tech made history as the first African-American to win the award for best nation’s leader. He averaged 48.0 yards per point and 18 of his 45 points were shot inside the opponent’s 20-meter line. He defeated Jake Camarda of Georgia and Lou Hedley of Miami.