AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn sophomore Tank Bigsby has been named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list for college football's most versatile player.
The SEC's co-freshman of the year in 2020, Bigsby ranked eighth in the Southeastern Conference in all-purpose yardage at 122.4 yards per game last season, tallying 1,224 total yards to rank third among FBS freshmen.
Bigsby ranked No. 2 among FBS freshman rushers with 834 yards on 138 carries with five rushing touchdowns, earning second team freshman All-America honors.
Bigsby is the first Auburn player to average 6.0 yards per carry since James Bostic in 1993. He logged four 100-yard rushing games, the most ever by an Auburn freshman against SEC competition.
Bigsby added 300 kickoff return yards on 13 returns (23.1 yards per return) and 84 receiving yards on 11 catches (7.6 yards per catch).
Here is the watch list for the 2021 Paul Hornung Award: https://www.louisvillesports.org/paul-hornung/watch-list-3/
The Louisville Sports Commission Thursday named 57 multi-talented college football players to the 2021 watch list for the Paul Hornung Award presented by Texas Roadhouse.
The Paul Hornung Award, now in its 12th season, is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission in the memory of the late football legend and Louisville native Paul Hornung. The winner and his family will be honored at the annual Paul Hornung Award dinner at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville in March 2021.
The 2021 watch list players represent 53 universities from all 10 football conferences, plus four independent schools, that are part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The SEC leads the conferences with nine players; the Big Ten and Big 12 each landed eight players; C-USA, Mountain West and Pac 12 each have five players; the AAC and ACC have four; and the MAC and Sun Belt have three each. Independents Army, BYU, Liberty and Notre Dame each have one player on the list.
The Paul Hornung Award has created an impressive legacy in 11 years including seven winners who were first round NFL draft picks – DeVonta Smith, Tavon Austin, Odell Beckham Jr., Shaq Thompson, Christian McCaffrey, Jabrill Peppers and Saquon Barkley.
Hornung, who passed away in his hometown at age 84 on Nov. 13, 2020, played every position in the offensive backfield during his career with the Irish in the 1950s and also played defensive safety, punted, placekicked and returned kickoffs. He was named All-America at quarterback as a senior and won the Heisman Trophy in 1956, then was the first player selected in the NFL draft, going to Green Bay. He earned NFL MVP honors for the Packers in 1961 as a triple-threat halfback and placekicker by setting a single-season NFL scoring record that stood for 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."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer