The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ehlinger, Sterns named to Maxwell, Bednarik Award watch lists
07.15.2019 | Football
QB Sam Ehlinger and S Caden Sterns are on the watch list for College Football’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards, respectively.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Texas Football's Sam Ehlinger and CadenSterns were named to the 2019 watch lists for the Maxwell Award and Bednarik Awards, respectively, on Monday. The Maxwell Award has been given to America's College Player of the Year since 1937, while the Bednarik Award has been presented annually to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995.
Ehlinger, a native of Austin, Texas, played in and started all 14 games a season ago. He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by the league's head coaches and a semifinalist for the 2018 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, as he finished the season with 3,292 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns and 16 more scores on the ground. His 16 rushingtouchdowns are a UT record for quarterbacksand he is the first player in Texas history to pass for at least 25 touchdowns and rush for at least 15 in a season. Ehlinger's41 touchdowns responsible for in 2018 are the second-most in school history, trailing only Colt McCoy's 45 touchdowns in 2008.
The Longhorn quarterback has already received a number of preseason honors so far in 2019. Last week, Ehlinger was named the Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in a poll of the league's media representatives. He also was named a first team All-Big 12 Preseason selection by Phil Steele and a third team preseason All-American by Athlon Sports.
Sterns, a native of Cibolo, Texas, enters his second season with the Longhorns after an impressive freshman campaign in 2018. Last year, Sterns was a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist, a USA Today and FWAA Freshman All-America honoree, the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and a first team All-Big 12 selection. He started the first 13 games of the season to become the first Longhorn true freshman defensive back to start the first 13 games of his career since Blake Gideon in 2008.
Sterns racked up 62 total tackles (46 solo) with three tackles for loss, one sack and four pass breakups during his inaugural season on the Forty Acres. He also led the Longhorns with four interceptions in 2018 and blocked a field goal during Texas' 37-14 win over USC in September. One week later, he intercepted two passes against No. 17 TCU to become just the third Longhorn true freshman ever with two interceptions in a game.
The Maxwell Award is named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell, whose contributions to the game of football were extensive, including his time as a player, a sportswriter and an official. Meanwhile, the Bednarik Award is named after Chuck Bednarik, a former standout at both Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame Class of '69 and the NFL Hall of Fame Class of '67.
Semifinalists for the Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced October 29, 2019, while the three finalists for each award will be unveiled November 25, 2019. The winners of the 2019 Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 12, 2019. The formal presentations of these awards will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Tropicana Hotel &Casino Atlantic City on March 13, 2020.
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