Detmer Gets a New Honor: the Maxwell
Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer today received another individual honor with the Maxwell Award as the outstanding college football player of the year.
The Brigham Young quarterback, a junior, easily outdistanced Raghib (Rocket) Ismail of Notre Dame.
Detmer garnered 1,993 points on a 3-2-1 vote system, with 413 first-place votes among the 878 ballots cast by coaches, media and Maxwell Football Club members.
Ismail had 1,385 points, Colorado’s Eric Bieniemy 747 and Virginia’s Shawn Moore 431.
Detmer passed for 300 yards in 23 straight games and led the 13th-ranked Cougars (10-2) to a Dec. 29 matchup with Texas A&M; in the Holiday Bowl. He has set or tied 25 NCAA passing or total offense records.
He is the first quarterback to win the award since Syracuse’s Don McPherson won it in 1987. Running backs Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State and Anthony Thompson of Indiana won it the last two years.
The Maxwell Club also today announced that Penn State’s Joe Paterno won the second annual George Munger Award as outstanding college coach.
Grambling Coach Eddie Robinson won the Bagnell Award for outstanding contributions to football.
All will be honored at the club’s awards dinner Feb. 19.
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