Pat Freiermuth Listed On Two 2020 Preseason Award Watch Lists
Penn State football’s Pat Freiermuth is listed on two award watch lists ahead of the 2020 season.
The junior was one of the 55 players named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list Thursday. The award is annually given to the best pass-catcher in college football.
Friday, Freiermuth was named to the Mackey Award preseason watch list for the second consecutive season. Each year, the honor is given to the best tight end in college football.
Bobby Engram is the only Nittany Lion to win the Biletnikoff award, as he was the first ever recipient back in 1994. Since then, there have been only three Big Ten players to receive the honor. LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase took home the hardware last season when he totaled 84 receptions for 1780 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Freiermuth will attempt to be the first Penn Stater to ever win the Mackey Award. Fellow Nittany Lion and current Miami Dolphin Mike Gesicki was named a finalist in 2017 but was beat out by Oklahoma’s Mark Andrews. Since its creation in 2000, there have been five Big Ten tight ends who have received the honor, most recently in 2018 when Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson won it. Freiermuth is one of the eight Big Ten players to appear on the 2020 watch list.
There will likely be some extra motivation for Freiermuth to win the award after he was curiously absent from the 2019 Mackey Award semifinalists this past November. After being snubbed, the big tight end explained his thought process last season.
“Obviously [I’m] still motivated to win it. It’s not going to be this year, it’s going to be next year or the year after that,” Freiermuth said last fall. “If anything, it’s just going to fuel me to play harder and faster, do what I need to do.”
Freiermuth is the latest of several Penn State football players to be named to 2020 preseason award watch lists this summer. Micah Parsons was previously named to the Bednarik Award watch list and the Lott IMPACT Trophy award watch list. Sean Clifford was named to the Davey O’Brien award watch list while Journey Brown and Noah Cain were listed on the Doak Walker Award watch list.
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