Andrew Luck, who has quarterbacked Stanford to an 11-1 record this season, has been named one of five finalists for the Walter Camp Football Foundation 2011 College Football Player of the Year Award.
Luck joins Robert Griffin III of Baylor, Case Keenum of Houston, Trent Richardson of Alabama and Tyrann Mathieu of LSU as finalists for this year’s award.
Luck was also a finalist for last year’s award, won by Auburn’s Cam Newton.
The 2011 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, who is voted on by the Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be presented live on Thursday, December 8 during the 3 p.m. PT edition of ESPN SportsCenter.
Luck has completed 261 of 373 passes (70.0) for 3,170 yards and 35 touchdowns this season. He leads the Pac-12 in passing efficiency (167.5) and under his guidance, the Cardinal is averaging 43.6 points a game, which ranks fifth nationally, and 480.9 yards a game in total offense. He has quarterbacked Stanford to a 23-2 record dating back to last season, as the Cardinal has spent a school-record 21 weeks ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll.
In the regular-season finale against Notre Dame, Luck broke Stanford’s single season and career mark for touchdown passes, running his totals to 35 and 80, respectively. He also set a school career standard for total offense with 10,218 yards.
Stanford is 31-6 (.838) in Luck’s 37 career starts. His 31 wins as a starter ranks first among the school’s all-time list of quarterbacks.
Diving
Stanford diving coach Rick Schavone announced the signing of three women’s divers for the 2012-13 season — 2010-11 national one-meter champion Kelly Markle (Woodlands, Texas), three-time Nebraska one-meter champion Lillian Hinrichs (Lincoln, Neb.) and Alexandra Clay (Powell, Ohio).
Markle, as a junior, beat out 100 other divers to earn the national honor while also being one of eight girls and eight boys named national “Elite-8 Divers” for 2010-11. That list also included current Stanford freshmen Kristian Ipsen and Connor Kuremsky.
Markle reached the finals of the senior AT&T national championships this past year in the three-meter, finishing 12th after being the national runner-up in the Junior National three-meter synchro. Her 2011 season also included a win in the three-meter Junior Zones and one-meter Regional championships.
Hinrichs is coming off the second-best score in state history (469.55) in the one-meter, six points off the all-time record after winning the state title for the third-straight year last spring. She finished third at Junior Nationals in the platform and three-meter after finishing fifth at the same event in 2010 in the platform.
Clay reached the prelims of the three-meter Junior Nationals this past year where she was 32nd in her age group after she was fifth at the Zone Regional championships. At the 2010 YMCA Nationals she was second in the one-meter and third in the three-meter.
By Stanford Sports Information/Palo Alto Online Sports
By Stanford Sports Information/Palo Alto Online Sports
By Stanford Sports Information/Palo Alto Online Sports