McGuire Named To Paul Hornung Award Watch List

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns running back Elijah McGuire was one of 43 college football players named on Friday to the 2016 Watch List for the Paul Hornung Award, presented by Texas Roadhouse.

The Paul Hornung Award, now in its seventh season, is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission and football legend and Louisville native Paul Hornung. The winner and his family will be honored at the annual Paul Hornung Award Banquet presented by KentuckyOne Health, to be held at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville in February 2017. The Paul Hornung Award recently was named an associate member of the prestigious National College Football Awards Association.

McGuire, who is also on Watch Lists for the Doak Walker Award, the Maxwell Award Watch List and the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, rushed for a team-high 1,058 yards and 13 touchdowns last season for the Ragin' Cajuns while hauling in 34 passes and three TDs.

He joined former Ragin' Cajuns great Tyrell Fenroy (2005-08) as the second running back in school to rush for over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons and finished sixth in the SBC in rushing (87.2) and was seventh in the league in all-purpose yards (119.2).

McGuire, a 2015 Paul Hornung Award Watch List candidate, recorded three 100-yard rushing games on the season, including 162 yards with a school-record tying five TDs in the Ragin' Cajuns home opener against Northwestern State. He added a season-high 170 yards on a career-high 28 carries in a Sun Belt Conference-opening victory against Texas State and gained 159 yards against New Mexico State.

The Houma, La., native, who is third on the school's all-time rushing list with 3,185 yards, became the first running back in Ragin' Cajuns history to record 100 receptions in a career and enters the 2016 season as the only active NCAA player with 3,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving.

The 2016 Paul Hornung Award Watch List contains three of the four 2015 Paul Hornung Award finalists: Adoree' Jackson from Southern California, Jabrill Peppers from Michigan and Christian McCaffrey from Stanford. McCaffrey won the Paul Hornung Award in 2015 after amassing 3,496 all-purpose yards, breaking Barry Sanders' record of 3,520 set in 1988. The Watch List also includes 16 of the top-100 all-purpose players from 2015 according to yards-per-game average from ncaa.com.

This year's Watch List is comprised of 21 seniors, 13 juniors and nine sophomores who start at a total of seven different positions, and represent 42 universities and all 10 conferences that are part of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Pac-12 leads the conferences with eight players followed by the ACC and SEC with seven players and the Big Ten with six players.

Players on the Watch List accounted for 9,257 rushing yards, 15,787 receiving yards, 17,332 kickoff return yards, 3,676 punt return yards and 552 total tackles in 2015. Reminiscent of Hornung during his playing days, members of the Watch List demonstrated a knack for scoring numerous ways. Last season the Watch List players combined for 216 total touchdowns in seven different ways - passing, rushing, receiving, punt return, kickoff return, interception and fumble recovery/fumble return.

"I'm ecstatic that the Paul Hornung Award has gained national prominence in such a short time," said Paul Hornung, the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner who played every position in the offensive backfield during his Notre Dame career and was a triple threat halfback for the title town Green Bay Packers of the early 1960s. "During the past six years the quality of our winners, finalists and weekly honorees has been impressive, and I'm pleased that we are able to acknowledge outstanding players who contribute any way possible to help their teams win the way I did."

"I enjoy following the players on our Watch List and watching many of our winners and finalists from the first six years as they make their marks in the NFL," continued Hornung who maintains an office in downtown Louisville. Hornung won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback and earned NFL MVP honors for the Green Bay Packers in 1961, setting a single-season NFL scoring record rushing, receiving, passing and kicking that stood 46 years. He is a member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and Vince Lombardi once called him, "The most versatile man ever to play the game."

The 2016 Watch List was compiled by a panel of college football experts based on a combination of 2015 statistics, career performance, SID recommendations and expectations heading into the 2016 season. Players will be added to the Watch List during the 2016 regular season based on performance.

2016 Watch List Selections
Ishmael Adams, UCLA
Victor Bolden Jr., Oregon State
Antonio Callaway, Florida
Seth Collins, Oregon State
Jared Cornelius, Arkansas
Tim Crawley, San Jose State
DeVon Edwards, Duke
Brisly Estime, Syracuse
Johnathan Ford, Auburn
Janarion Grant, Rutgers
Nyheim Hines, NC State
Brandon Holloway, Mississippi State
Adoree' Jackson, USC
D'Ernest Johnson, South Florida
Quay Johnson, East Carolina
Xavier Johnson, South Alabama
Corey Jones, Toledo
Desmond King, Iowa
Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
Donovan Lee, Colorado
William Likely, Maryland
Jalen McCleskey, Oklahoma State
Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
Elijah McGuire, Louisiana
Isaiah McKenzie, Georgia
Charles Nelson, Oregon
Zach Pascal, Old Dominion
Rashaad Penny, San Diego State
Jabrill Peppers, Michigan
Darius Phillips, Western Michigan
Trevor Ryen, Iowa State
Artavis Scott, Clemson
R.J. Shelton, Michigan State
Cameron Sutton, Tennessee
Ryan Switzer, North Carolina
Jahad Thomas, Temple
Aregeros Turner, Northern Illinois
KaVontae Turpin, TCU
Tim White, Arizona State
Jordan Whitehead, Pittsburgh
Brandon Wilson, Houston
Dontre Wilson, Ohio State
Olamide Zaccheaus, Virginia

McGuire Named To Paul Hornung Award Watch List

Players Mentioned

Elijah McGuire

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics