Record 11 national award watch lists for USF entering 2016 season
TAMPA, AUG. 4, 2016 – On the same day the USF football program opened camp in preparation for its 20th season, the Bulls' record number of national award watch list inclusions grew to 11 as junior quarterback Quinton Flowers (Miami) was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list.
Presented annually to the nation's top collegiate quarterback based on character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, leadership and athletic accomplishment, the Unitas Award watch list marks the second for Flowers, who was also named to the Davey O'Brien Award watch list. Flowers joins junior running back Marlon Mack (Maxwell, Walter Camp & Doak Walker Awards) and junior cornerback Deatrick Nichols (Bednarik & Thorpe Awards) among three Bulls named to multiple award watch lists.
USF now has a program-record, seven players – five on offense and two on defense – named to 11 national award watch lists entering the 2016 season. All but one are juniors or younger. Junior linebacker Auggie Sanchez (Butkus Award), junior running back D'Ernest Johnson (Hornung Award), sophomore tight end Elkanah Dillon (Mackey Award) and senior wide receiver Rodney Adams (Biletnikoff Award) are also on national award watch lists entering the 2016 season.
Flowers set USF records passing for 22 touchdowns and rushing for 991 yards in 2015. He completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,296 yards and had just eight interceptions in 276 attempts. Flowers posted 3,287 total yards and accounted for 34 total touchdowns (12 rushing). He set a USF and American Conference record for a quarterback, running for 201 yards vs. SMU and led USF's “Gulf Coast Offense” to 16 team records, including most total yards (5,741), touchdowns (54) and yards per game (441.6 ypg) in a season.
The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award® will be presented at a ceremony on December
9, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Coming off the program's first bowl appearance in five years, USF returns school season record holders at quarterback, running back and wide receiver and four all-conference selections. The Bulls return 93 percent of their offensive yards from a record smashing offense that posted school marks of 5,741 yards and 54 offensive touchdowns in 2015. While the Bulls averaged 33.6 points and 441 yards of offense per game, the defense ranked in the top 25 in the nation in interceptions (14th), turnovers gained (24th), and tackles for loss (13th), and in the top 35 of seven statistical categories. The Bulls return seven of their top nine tacklers and players that accounted for 12 of their 17 interceptions and 16 of 25 turnovers gained.
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2016 USF National Award Watch Lists
Rodney Adams, WR Biletnikoff Award – top collegiate receiver
Elkanah Dillon, TE Mackey Award – top collegiate tight end
Quinton Flowers, QB Davey O'Brien Award – top collegiate quarterback
Johnny Unitas Award – top collegiate quarterback
D'Ernest Johnson, RB Hornung Award – most versatile collegiate player
Marlon Mack, RB Maxwell Award – top collegiate player
Walter Camp Award – top collegiate player
Doak Walker Award – top collegiate running back
Deatrick Nichols, DB Bednarik Award – top collegiate defensive player
Thorpe Award – top collegiate defensive back
Auggie Sanchez, LB Butkus Award – top collegiate linebacker
