Four Stanford football players earned spots on a pair of national award watch lists, the Maxwell Football Club announced Tuesday. Kevin Hogan and Christian McCaffrey are on the Maxwell Award watch list, while Blake Martinez and Kevin Anderson appear on the Bednarik Award watch list.
Stanford is one of 14 programs with multiple members on the Maxwell Award list and one of 25 with two or more in the preliminary Bednarik Award announcement.
The Maxwell Award, named in honor of Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell, has been given to America’s College Player of the Year since 1937. Maxwell’s contributions to the game of football were extensive, including time as a player, a sportswriter and an official.
The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995. Chuck Bednarik, former standout at Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles, is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 1969 and the NFL Hall of Fame’s Class of 1967.
Hogan returns as Stanford’s quarterback after starting 37 games over the past three seasons. He has taken the Cardinal to two Rose Bowls and was named the 2014 Foster Farms Bowl Offensive MVP to finish last year’s campaign. The fifth-year senior from McLean, Va., has thrown for 6,518 yards in his career to go along with 48 passing touchdowns and another nine on the ground.
McCaffrey, who was named to the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile) list Monday, is poised to be Hogan’s biggest asset on the offensive side. The sophomore from Castle Rock, Colo.,
played in all 13 games as a freshman, totaling 796 all-purpose yards, including 300 yards on the ground and 251 yards through the air. McCaffrey is expected to see a significant increase in offensive touches from the 49 received during his first year on The Farm.
Martinez, a senior from Tuscon, Ariz., was Stanford’s leading tackler with 102 (53 solo) in 2014, as the Cardinal posted the No. 2 scoring defense in the nation. The inside linebacker’s efforts helped Stanford rank No. 1 in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense and passing defense. Martinez tied for the team lead with three interceptions and was tied for fifth with 4.5 sacks.
Anderson, a fifth-year senior from Palo Alto High, plays alongside Martinez at outside linebacker, where he had 52 tackles (32 solo) a year ago. He tied for second the Cardinal with 11.5 tackles for loss and was fourth on the squad with 5.5 sacks. Both Anderson and Martinez were All-Pac-12 honorable mention selections.
Stanford’s season opens Sept. 5 with a 9 a.m. (PT) game at Northwestern on ESPN. The home slate starts a week later against University of Central Florida (Sept. 12) at 7:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics