BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Dec. 11, 2019) – Harrison Bryant of Florida Atlantic University football was voted on Wednesday as the winner of the 2019 John Mackey Award, as the most outstanding tight end in college football. Bryant is the first Owl in the 19-year history of the FAU football program to receive a national individual accolade, and will be presented with the trophy on Thursday during The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show in Atlanta (which can be viewed live on ESPNU beginning at 6 p.m.).
The senior and Gray, Georgia, native leads all tight ends nationwide with 65 catches and 1,004 receiving yards, and ranks fourth in FBS with seven touchdowns (all coming in his last six games). Not only is Bryant the first Owl to earn such a prestigious national honor, he is the first non-Power Five player to ever receive the Mackey Award, which will be presented Thursday for the 20th time.
Also on Wednesday morning, Bryant earned merit on Sports Illustrated’s 2019 College Football All-America Team, as a First Team member. Bryant has already earned First Team All-America recognition from Pro Football Focus, among a handful of individual honors to this point.
Bryant’s Award Season Accolades:
· 2019 John Mackey Award winner
· Sports Illustrated First Team All-America
· First Team All-Conference USA
· Conference USA All-Academic
· PFF First Team All-America
· PFF C-USA Player of the Year
· PFF All-C-USA Team
Coinciding with the awards show on Thursday night will be the release of – and Bryant’s potential inclusion on – The Walter Camp All-America team. Future key dates to watch out for also includes the FWAA All-America Team next Thursday, Dec. 19, as well as eventual All-America announcements by the Associated Press, AFCA, ESPN, USA Today and more.
Bryant and the 10-3 Owls begin practice again on Thursday, heading towards a Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl matchup at FAU Stadium against SMU on Dec. 21. Tickets are available by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS or by visiting FAUTickets.com.
About the John Mackey Award
NFL Hall of Fame member John Mackey is considered to be the best to have played the tight end position. A tight end by whom all others are measured, Mackey was a role model on and off the field as demonstrated by his Super Bowl Championship, his commitment to community and his place in history as the first President of the NFLPA.
The John Mackey Award presented since 2000, recognizes 17 alumni that have played in the NFL: two-time Super Bowl Champion Daniel Graham (’01), 2006 Super Bowl Champion
Dallas Clark (’02), Kellen Winslow II (’03), two-time Super Bowl Champion Heath Miller (’04), Marcedes Lewis (’05) of the Green Bay Packers, 2008 Super Bowl Champion Matt Spaeth (’06), Fred Davis (’07), Chase Coffman (’08), D.J. Williams (’10), Dwayne Allen (’11), Tyler Eifert (’12) of the Cincinnati Bengals, Austin Seferian-Jenkins (’13), Nick O’Leary (’14), Hunter Henry (’15) of the Los Angeles Chargers, Jake Butt (’16) of the Denver Broncos, Mark Andrews (’17) of the Baltimore Ravens and 2018 John Mackey Award recipient T.J. Hockenson of the Detroit Lions.
The John Mackey Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association
(NCFAA), which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 25 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. VisitNCFAA.org to learn more about the association.
The Friends of John Mackey are responsible for the administration of the John Mackey Award and the John Mackey Award Selection Committee. Please visit www.johnmackeyaward.comfor all John Mackey Award-related information.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
