The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Johnson named to Biletnikoff Award watch list
07.19.2018 | Football
Junior WR Collin Johnson on watch list for College Football’s top receiver award.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Texas Football's Collin Johnson was named to the 2018 watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation announced on Thursday morning. The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the outstanding FBS receiver, regardless of position. No Longhorn has ever won the award, which was first presented in 1994, but Jordan Shipley was a finalist in 2009.
A native of San Jose, Calif., Johnson has played in all 25 games in his career while making 10 starts. He eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards last season in a game at West Virginia and enters 2018 with 82 catches for 1,080 yards and five TDs. Making nine starts last season, Johnson totaled 54 receptions for 765 yards and two touchdowns. His 54 catches were the 19th-most in school history for a single season. In a monster game at USC last season, Johnson had seven catches for 191 yards, the fourth-most by a Longhorn all-time and the most ever by a UT player on the road. Johnson enters the 2018 season with two career 100-yard receiving games (Maryland '17, at USC '17).
The 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented the Biletnikoff Award trophy by college and pro football hall of famer Fred Biletnikoff and keynoter & 1993 Lombardi Award and Jim Parker Award winner Aaron Taylor before 550 patrons at the Biletnikoff Award Banquet at the University Center Club at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, February 16, 2019.
The name Biletnikoff is synonymous with the term receiver. Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the pro and college football Halls of Fame, was a consensus All-America receiver at Florida State University, and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978. Biletnikoff was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.
