Good evening, and welcome to the 1st Annual VFTWC Golden Coolers Award Ceremony. Now it’s been a great year in college football and we’re here tonight to honor the best of the best. Tonight we’ll give out several awards and the winners will receive “Golden Coolers” in honor of their achievement. We have a lot of awards to get through so let’s get into it!
First we have the defensive awards. In the defensive awards we are giving Golden Coolers away to the top defensive linemen, linebacker, defensive back, and the overall Defensive Player of the Year.
The first award we will give away tonight is the Defensive Lineman of the Year. This award goes to Utah’s Nate Orchard. In his year at Utah, Orchard had 17.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, and a total of 81 tackles. He was second in the nation in sacks and fifth in the nation in tackles for loss.
The second defensive award of the night is the Linebacker of the Year. This years Linebacker of the Year recipient is Scooby Wright III, from the Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats had a great year on defense and it all started with their heart and sole. Scooby had 14 sacks, 27 tackles for loss, and 153 total tackles. Wright was third in the country in sacks, first in the country in tackles for loss, and second in the country in total tackles.
Before the Defensive player of the year award is announced, there is one more defensive award to give out. The final defensive award we will give away tonight is the Defensive Back of the Year award. This award will go to Gerod Holliman from the University of Louisville. For the first part of this season, the Cardinals had the top defensive in the nation, and it was led by their ball-hawking safety. Holliman led the nation in interceptions with 14 on the year, returning one of them for a touchdown!
And now we are ready to give away the first Player of the Year award. The first POY award given away is the Defensive Player of the year. Many players have been considering, including the three already awarding tonight, and the winner was an obvious choice. The first ever Defensive Player of the Year award goes to Arizona’s Scooby Wright III, a winner already tonight. Scooby had an incredible year this year and either lead the nation, or was close to the top, in many defensive statistics. Congrats to Scooby on the honor and congrats to the rest of the defensive winners!
The next set of awards we are going to give away tonight are the offensive awards. In the offensive awards we are giving Golden Coolers to the top offensive linemen, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback, not to mention the Offensive Player of the Year.
The first offensive award we are giving out tonight is the Offensive Linemen of the Year award. The Golden Cooler goes to Brandon Scherff from the University or Iowa! Before the season, Travis Haney, of ESPN, called Scherff one of the best players in college football, regardless of position.
The next offensive award we are giving out tonight is the Running Back of the Year award. There were so many great running backs this year, but one stood out above the rest. The Golden Cooler goes to Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon III. Gordon had an incredible year, running for 2,336 yards and 26 touchdowns. Both of those numbers were good enough to lead the nation. Melvin also set the single game rushing record against Nebraska, running for 408 yards and 4 touchdowns. The record stood for one week before being broken the next week by Samaje Perine from Oklahoma.
Our next Golden Cooler to give away is to the Wide Receiver of the Year! Like the running backs, the wide receivers had a great year this year with many fantastic catches throughout the year. The Wide Receiver of the Year goes to Amari Cooper, from the University of Alabama. Cooper had 115 receptions, 1,656 yards, and 14 touchdowns. Those numbers were good enough for first in the country in receptions and yards, and second in the country in touchdowns. Amari’s Crimson Tide will play in the College Football Playoff vs. The Ohio State Buckeyes.
We have three more offensive awards to give out tonight, but this is the last one that has to do with receiving. The next award we are giving out tonight is the Tight End of the Year award. This Golden Cooler is going to Jonnu Smith of Flordia International University. Smith had 61 receptions, 710 yards, and 8 touchdowns. Smith led all tight ends in receptions and yards, and tied for the most touchdowns.
The final positional award of the night is going to the Quarterback of the Year award. There were a lot of fantastic quarterbacks this year, but like Melvin Gordon and the running backs, there was one quarterback who was clear-cut the best. The Golden Cooler for the Quarterback of the Year goes to Marcus Mariota, from the Oregon Ducks. Mariota threw for 3,783 yards, 38 touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions!
Not only was Marcus Mariota the VFTWC Quarterback of the Year, but we are also honored to give him the VFTWC Offensive Player of the Year, and the VFTWC Overall Player of the Year. The Ducks quarterback had an incredible year and we are very happy to give him this award tonight. Congrats to Marcus and the rest of the offensive winners!
Our final set of player awards that are going to be given out tonight are for the special team players and also the Freshman of the Year! Besides the Freshman of the Year, we will also be giving out awards for the top kicker, punter, and special teams player of the year!
The first special teams award we will give out tonight is the Kicker of the Year. The Kicker of the Year will go to Roberto Aguayo from Florida State University. Aguayo is regarded as one of the best kickers in the history of college football, and this year he’s been spot on. Roberto was 25 for 27 on field goals and perfect on extra points.
The next special teams Golden Cooler we will give out tonight is the Punter of the Year award. This year Punter of the Year is Tom Hackett, from Utah University. Hackett had 77 punts this year and averaged 47 yards per punt, only .75 yards behind the nations leader.
The final special teams award we will give out tonight is the Special Teams player of the Year. This award is given out to the top special teams player, in regards to kickoff and punt returns. This years Special Teams player of the Year Golden Cooler is going to JJ Nelson from UAB. Nelson averaged 10.65 yards per punt return, but was the nation leader on the kickoff return team, averaging 38.32 yards per kickoff return and scored 4 touchdowns!
Our final player award of the night is the VFTWC Freshman of the Year award. This award can go to either an offensive or defensive player. This year, the Freshman of the Year award goes to J.T. Barrett from The Ohio State University. Barrett came out of no where to lead the Buckeyes to the Big Ten Championship after starter Braxton Miller reinjured his shoulder 10 days before the season. Barrett threw for 2,834 yards and 34 touchdowns.
We’re getting towards the end of the night and we only have two awards to give out. The final Golden Coolers of the night are the VFTWC Assistant Coach of the Year and the VFTWC Coach of the Year.
This years Assistant Coach of the Year is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from The Ohio State University, Tom Herman. Herman did an outstanding job with the Buckeyes quarterback situation and helped the Ohio State offense to become one of the most explosive offenses in the country.
This years VFTWC Coach of the Year is Jim McElwain from Colorado State. McElwain came to Colorado State from Alabama in 2012 and turned the program around. Years after going 3-9, McElwain led the Rams to a 10-2 record and a spot in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.
Well that’s all the time we have tonight. We would like to thank you for joining us at the 1st annual VFTWC Golden Coolers Award Ceremony. Don’t forget to stay with VFTWC for continuing coverage of the Bowl Season, College Football Playoff, and the college basketball season. Have a great night! (Below is a gallery of all of tonights winners)
Views From The Water Cooler 