Junior quarterback Malcolm Perry is one of 43 players named to the 2018 Paul Hornung Award Watch List presented by Texas Roadhouse. Tony Pollard of Memphis and Isaiah Wright of Temple are the only other players from the American Athletic Conference on the list.
The Paul Hornung Award, now in its ninth season, is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission and football legend Paul Hornung. Penn State’s Saquon Barkley won the award last year and the last six winners were NFL first round draft picks.
The Hornung Watch List is comprised of 14 seniors, 19 juniors and 10 sophomores. The list was compiled by a panel of college football experts based on a combination of 2017 statistics, career performance, SID recommendations and expectations heading into the 2018 season.
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 and 2018 preseason West Division favorite, 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.
- USNA
