As the college football regular season nears its end, the award season hype is beginning to pick up in Tuscaloosa. It was announced on Wednesday that three Alabam players were selected as major award semifinalists.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Jerry Jeudy were both deemed semifinalists for the Maxwell Award. If all holds up this would be Tagovailoa’s second time being a finalist for the award following last year’s stellar season. In 2018 Tagovailoa passed for nearly 4,000 yards with 43 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
Even after missing the team’s last game against Arkansas Tagovailoa is still on pace to at least come close to matching those numbers granted that he will be able to play Nov. 9 against LSU.
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A lot of those touchdown passes have gone to Tagovailoa’s number one target over the past two seasons has been his fellow semifinalist. Jeudy, who was last season’s Biletnikoff Award winner, currently ranks within the top five in receptions and receiving yards in the SEC. On the season he’s caught 52 passes for 682-yards and eight touchdowns.
On the other side of the football junior safety, Xavier McKinney has been the Crimson Tide’s most consistent player on defense and is now getting recognized by getting named as a Chuck Bednarik Award semifinalist. The Chuck Bednarik Award is given to college football’s defensive player of the year.
Alabama has had a lot of success capturing this award recently as defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (2016) and Minkah Fitzpatrick (2017) have both won the award. So far McKinney has had a season on par with the other two as he leads Alabama in tackles with 56 tackles in 2019.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
