Manning Collects Three Awards; Leaf Runner-Up
Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy, swept three other college football awards Thursday night.
Manning beat out Michigan defensive back Charles Woodson for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the best all-around player, and also took the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award and the Scholar-Athlete Award.
Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf and Cade McNown of UCLA trailed Manning for the O’Brien award.
In the Maxwell balloting, Manning edged Woodson by 55 votes out of a total of 2,500 cast by the Football Writers Association. Leaf was third.
Manning set career records for passing yardage (10,669) and touchdowns (84) at Tennessee and had the most 300-yard passing games in SEC history with 17.
Woodson, who had seven interceptions to push his career total to 17, won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the defensive player of the year. He also captured the Jim Thorpe award as the top defensive back.
Ricky Williams of Texas, who leads the nation with 1,893 rushing yards, won the Doak Walker Award as the top running back. The Biletnikoff Award for outstanding receiver went to Randy Moss of Marshall.
Aaron Taylor of Nebraska won the Outland Trophy as outstanding interior lineman and the Lou Groza placekicker award went to Martin Gramatica of Kansas State.
Running back Dwight Collins of Central Florida, who has been deaf since he was 11 months old because of meningitis, won the Wide World of Sports Spirit Award.
The awards show was staged in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Mount Union quarterback Bill Borchert, who holds several NCAA all-divisions records, has received the 1997 Gagliardi Trophy recognizing him as the top Division III college player.
Borchert holds NCAA all-divisions records for career touchdown passes (141, not including 38 in the postseason), pass efficiency rating (194.08) and consecutive games with at least one touchdown (40).
Coaching update
New Boise State football coach Dirk Koetter will keep two assistant coaches from the staff of Houston Nutt, who resigned Tuesday to accept the head coaching position at Arkansas.
Koetter said he will keep Dan Fidler, who coached outside linebackers last season, and Darryl Jackson, who coached wide receivers. Five assistants are following Nutt to Arkansas.
The University of Georgia raised Jim Donnan’s pay to $650,000 a year and extended his five-year contract by a year to reward him for the Bulldogs’ 9-2 season.
Donnan, who is 14-8 in two seasons at Georgia, decided Sunday to stay in Athens, Ga., rather than accept what he called “the deal of a lifetime” at North Carolina. The Tar Heels reportedly offered him almost $850,000 annually for five years.
Auburn will sign coach Terry Bowden to a new, seven-year contract that will include a raise, a source told The Associated Press.
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