From Rocco Gasparro,
University of Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson added to his trophy case on Tuesday as the sophomore became the school’s first player to be named the Associated Press Player of the Year.
Named to the AP first team All-America squad on Monday, Jackson is widely the most decorated player in school history after also being named the youngest player to be named a Heisman Trophy winner at just 19 years and 337 days old. He moves into the slot previously held by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who was named the award’s recipient at 19 years and 342 days old in 2013.
Last Thursday, Jackson picked up a pair of honors by being tabbed the Maxwell and Walter Camp Player of the Year at the ESPN College Football Awards, as well as, numerous All-American accolades.
Jackson, Louisville’s first player to win college football’s most coveted individual award, the 2016 Heisman Trophy, was the youngest player to secure the honor
Guiding the nation’s top scoring offense, Jackson finished the regular season holding ACC and school records with 51 touchdowns responsible for (30 passing, 21 rushing), rushing yards by a quarterback with 1,538, and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 21. He tied an ACC mark with eight touchdowns in the season-opening win over Charlotte, including matching a school mark with six touchdown passes.
Named the ACC Player and Offensive Player of the Year, Jackson shattered Louisville’s single-season record for rushing yards in a season, and his eight 100-yard rushing games also broke a school mark.
Jackson has passed for 3,390 yards and 30 touchdowns and is two scores shy of breaking Teddy Bridgewater’s single-season mark. Jackson totaled a pair of 400-yard passing games this season, including a career-best 417 yards in a win on the road at Marshall on Sept. 24, and 411 yards in a victory at Syracuse on Sept. 9.
He amassed an ACC-record 610 total yards in a win over Syracuse, a game in which he came within one rushing yard of becoming the first player in FBS history to run for 400 yards and pass for 200 yards in the same game.
The Cardinals return to action on Dec. 31 in the 2016 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl against LSU in Orlando, Fla., at 11 a.m.
