Congrats to all those nominated, and to the three finalists (all deserving), but a special congrats to Cole Kelley on winning this year's award. Seeing him up close and personal every Saturday, he was a model of consistency while running an NFL style offense, and was at his best, against the best competition, all on the road. Against Sam Houston, Nicholls and Southern Illinois (all on the road), he was a combined 100-136, 1271 yards, 10 TDs, 0 INTs, rushed for 3 TDs and had another receiving. On the season, he led the nation with 27 total touchdowns (passing, rushing, receiving) and threw only four interceptions. All four were catchable balls that were dropped/deflected by our receivers and then intercepted. He just had a phenomenal spring and will be back in the fall for another go at it.

Here's what Southern Illinois Head Coach, Nick Hill, had to say about Cole right after our game:


"That was one of the best QB performances, stayin' in, whether I played and watched the other QBs or coaching that we've played against — whether it's, it's Flacco, Trey Lance, Carson Wentz — I mean, that kid was just an absolute warrior out there. He took more hits than I've ever seen a QB take, and just didn't even faze him. I went up to him after the game and the kid was just, ya know, smilin' and just a, a competitor."

"He was mad he didn't win the game ... I thought it was 90% (when told he completed 81%) ... the ones that were dropped, he had a couple of drops in there that were on the money, and uh, and it wasn't uh — our plan was to be overagressive — we had to come, I don't know how many times — I know that's not a stat we track, but we had to have hit him 20 times or more, and a couple of 'em, we had some of our best guys square him up and just deliver some blows to him and uh, yeah — he's 6-7, 260 pounds and he'll be a draft pick next year if he comes back to play for his senior year."