BYU Football: Austin Kafentzis on Paul Hornung Award watch list
By Shaun Gordon
BYU Football’s Austin Kafentzis is the fifth Cougar to land on a major award watch list. He’s a candidate for the Paul Hornung Award.
Same day, two different BYU Football players on two different award watch lists.
Earlier today, Adam Pulsipher was named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list. Now, the Louisville Sports Commission has placed Austin Kafentzis on the Paul Hornung Award’s list.
The Paul Hornung Award honors the most versatile player in college football. 43 players in all are on the watch list.
The award will be presented in March of next year at the Paul Hornung Award dinner in Louisville.
It comes as no surprise that Kafentzis would be considered one of college football’s most versatile players. He’s played three different positions in his college career, and he’s preparing to play a fourth in 2018.
In his sophomore campaign in 2017, Kafentzis started the season as a running back, but when Cougar quarterbacks started dropping like flies, he moved back to a wildcat quarterback role. He saw action in 10 games, rushing 41 times for 227 yards and scoring a touchdown at Hawaii.
This year he’s moving to the other side of the ball, switching positions once again to strong safety.
He’ll be stuck in a tight battle for playing time there with Dayan Ghanwoloku, Troy Warner (if he switches from cornerback), and Tanner Jacobson.
He’ll have to break through that logjam and get meaningful playing time if he hopes to have any chance to win the award.
Last year’s Paul Hornung Award winner was Penn State’s Saquon Barkley, who played running back, wildcat quarterback, slot receiver, and returner. Barkley went No. 2 in the 2018 NFL Draft to the New York Giants.
With Pulsipher and Kafentzis, BYU now has five players on major award watch lists, joining Corbin Kaufusi (Bronko Nagurski Award), Matt Bushman (Mackey Award), and Squally Canada (Doak Walker Award).