With the regular season over and bowl season around the corner, it’s almost time for award season. One prestigious award has a lot of noteworthy finalists.
According to FOX Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman, the finalists for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award have been announced. Making the cut are North Carolina QB Drake Maye, LSU LB Harold Perkins Jr., Penn State LB Abdul Carter, Georgia DB Malaki Starks and Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins.
Maye is a redshirt freshman who completed 67.7-percent of his passes for 3847 yards and 35 touchdowns with just five interceptions while leading the Tar Heels to the ACC Championship Game.
Judkins rushed for 1,476 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns and had another 116 yards and a touchdown through the air. He currently leads the SEC in rushing yards and ranks seventh in the country – ahead of Heisman Trophy finalist Blake Corum as of writing.
Perkins is a true freshman who helped lead LSU to the SEC title game. He has 59 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 12 games.
Carter has 55 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
Starks has 59 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes defended.
Any one of these five would make an excellent case for Freshman of the Year.
But Maye and Judkins seem like the most likely winners for the time being. One is a redshirt freshman taking the team from 6-7 last year to 9-3 and the conference title game, while the other leads the entire SEC in rushing yards.
Who do you have winning the Freshman of the Year award?