Bush, Young score major honors
Heisman finalists Reggie Bush and Vince Young were honored as the best at their respective positions, and they split a pair of awards recognizing the top player in college football Thursday.
At New Haven, Conn., Bush was named winner of the Walter Camp Award, making him the fifth USC player to earn the honor given to the nation’s best player.
Also, Bush beat Washington State’s Jerome Harrison and Memphis’ DeAngelo Williams for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top running back, in a ceremony at Orlando, Fla.
Bush, a junior, became the first USC player to win the Walker Award.
Bush joins former Trojans O.J. Simpson (1967 and 1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen (1981) and teammate Matt Leinart (2004) as a Camp Award winner.
The 6-foot, 200-pound Bush has rushed for 1,658 yards and scored 18 touchdowns this season, averaging 8.9 yards a carry for the top-ranked Trojans. He also has 31 receptions for 383 yards, and is averaging 217.6 all-purpose yards per game.
In addition to the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback, Texas’ Young won the Maxwell Award, also for the nation’s top player.
Young leads the nation in passing efficiency with a 168.6 rating. He has passed for 2,769 yards and 26 touchdowns, and leads the Longhorns in rushing with 850 yards.
The Maxwell Award was once considered a good way to predict who would win the Heisman, but not recently. The past five winners, including Oklahoma’s Jason White last season, did not win the Heisman. The last player to win both the Maxwell and the Heisman was Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne.
Young was the third Texas player to win the Maxwell Award.
Young topped Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn and Leinart, the other Heisman finalist, to win the O’Brien Award.
The Heisman will be handed out Saturday in New York.
Barnett, Colorado agree to part
Gary Barnett stepped down as football coach of Colorado, accepting a $3 million settlement and ending a tenure that was riddled by off-the-field problems but ultimately done in by recent bad results on the field.
Barnett’s attorney, John Rodman, told the Associated Press that “CU made the decision to go a different direction and Gary has made the decision to step down as football coach.”
A news conference to be attended by Barnett and athletic director Mike Bohn was scheduled for later Thursday evening.
The Buffs (7-5) enter the Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 27 against Clemson, having lost three straight games by a combined score of 130-22.
There was no word on whether Barnett 49-38 over seven seasons, would coach in that game.
“I think we’re sad to leave the university but he is willing and is accepting the decision by the university, to the extent that he has a voice in that issue, and they were good enough to come to us and talk to us about it,” Rodman said.
Thus marked a fairly rapid – though not all that stunning – reversal for Colorado, which appeared ready to offer Barnett a contract extension as recently as a month ago.
Oregon State’s Hass claims honor
Oregon State’s Mike Hass won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver. Hass, the NCAA’s leader in receiving yards (139.3 per game) beat out Dwayne Jarrett of Southern California and Jeff Samardzija of Notre Dame.
Hass owns school records for career receptions (220) and single-season receptions (90).
His 3,924 yards of career receiving is a school record and he is the first receiver in Pac-10 history to have three 1,000-yard seasons and the 10th in NCAA history.
Braylon Edwards of Michigan won the award last season.
•Oregon State’s Alexis Serna won the Groza Award as the country’s best kicker, beating out Mason Crosby of Colorado and Had Dean of Clemson. Serna leads the NCAA in career field-goal percentage among active kickers (83.3) and leads all kickers this season with 101 points.
His 6-for-6 performance against Washington this year broke a school record and tied the Pac-10 record.
Serna is the first kicker from Oregon State to win the award.
Ohio State’s Mike Nugent won the Groza Award last season.
•Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny won the Chuck Bednarik Trophy, given to the best defensive player in the country.
The other finalists were Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk and Maryland linebackers D’Qwell Jackson.
•Minnesota center Greg Eslinger won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top lineman to become the first Gophers player to win the award since 1962. The other finalists were Oregon defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and Auburn offensive tackle Marcus McNeill.
Eslinger is part of an offense that averaged a school record 497.8 yards this season and ranked third in the nation in rushing with 279.9 yards per game.
He is the third Minnesota player to win the Outland, joining tackle Bobby Bell in 1962 and guard Tom Brown in 1960.
•Texas safety Michael Huff won the Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the country.
Huff beat out Virginia Tech cornerback Jimmy Williams and Clemson cornerback Tye Hill to become the first Longhorn to win the award.
Huff has 97 tackles and two interceptions for the second-ranked Longhorns. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior holds school records for most career interceptions returned for a touchdown with four and most touchdowns scored by a defensive player with five.
Auburn’s Carlos Rogers won the award last season.
•Wake Forest’s Ryan Plackemeier won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s top punter.