Navy junior quarterback Malcolm Perry has been named to the Watch List for the 2018 Maxwell Award, which has been awarded to the College Football Player of the Year every year since 1937. Navy has had four different players win the award with end Ron Beagle winning it in 1954, tackle Bob Reifsnyder in 1957, running back Joe Bellino in 1960 and quarterback Roger Staubach in 1963. Only Notre Dame and Penn State (seven each) have had more Maxwell Award winners than Navy. Ohio State and Texas are tied with the Mids for third with four each.
Perry is one of seven players from the American Athletic Conference on the list joining defensive tackle Ed Oliver of Houston, running back Darrell Henderson and wide receiver Tony Pollard of Memphis, running back Xavier Jones of SMU, quarterback Frank Nutile of Temple, quarterback McKenzie Milton of UCF.
Perry is coming off a standout sophomore campaign that saw him start 12 games (nine at slot back, three at quarterback). He finished second on the team in rushing with 1,182 yards on 138 carries and 11 touchdowns. He was also Navy’s second leading receiver with 13 catches for 303 yards and two touchdowns. Perry’s 8.6 yards per carry set a Navy school record and ranked third nationally, while his 150.2 all-purpose yards per game was the sixth best average in the country.
Perry was the only player in the FBS last year to have two runs of 70 yards or more and one reception of 70 yards or more and is one of only two players in FBS history (Denard Robinson of Michigan is the other) to rush for 100 or more yards in a game at both running back and quarterback in the same year.
Perry had touchdown runs of 92 vs. SMU and 91 vs. Air Force making him just the third player in FBS history to have two runs of 90 yards or more in the same season (Navy has just five 90-yard runs in its history). His 92-yard run vs. SMU was a Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium record.
Navy kicks off the 2018 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Hawai’i before returning home to face Memphis, the defending AAC West Division Champions, on Saturday, Sept. 8. Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at: https://goo.gl/YYmmJb or by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY.
