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Lynn Bowden Wins Paul Hornung Award

https://lastwordoncollegefootball.com/2019/12/11/final-2019-heisman-rankings/

The First Recipient In School History

For the second straight year a Kentucky football player takes home a major post-season award. On Wednesday morning the Louisville Sports Commission announced Lynn Bowden wins the Paul Hornung Award.

A Remarkable Season

The award, given to the most versatile player in college football, fits Bowden perfectly. When both Kentucky quarterbacks Terry Wilson and Sawyer Smith were injured coach Mark Stoops asked Bowden to return to the position he played in high school.

In seven games at quarterback Bowden rushed for 1,235 yards, ranking him third in the Southeastern Conference. In addition his 8.2 yards per rush puts him first in the league and second nationally. Furthermore he set school records for most rushing yards in a single season and career. He capped off the regular season when he torched the Louisville Cardinals for 284 yards and four touchdowns in 45-13 rout. Bowden set an SEC record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback and second most yards in a game in school history.

An even deeper look into the numbers shows Bowden’s versatility. Even though he hasn’t caught a pass in seven games, he still leads the Wildcats with 30 receptions for 348 yards. In addition he is the only player in the NCAA leading his team in both rushing and receiving yards. After moving to quarterback the Cats won five of their last seven games and made their fourth straight bowl game.

Bowden ranks fifth all time on Kentucky’s all-purpose yards list with 4,407. He has 1,297 yards rushing and 1,303 yards receiving. Furthermore he has 1.608 kickoff return yards and 199 punt return yards. He also has 422 yards passing for his career.

One More Game

Earlier this week the junior from Youngstown, Ohio announced he is giving up his final season at Kentucky to enter the NFL Draft.

https://twitter.com/LynnBowden_1/status/1204135497779408896?s=20

While he isn’t showing up on some of the early mock drafts, his versatility is going to convince one of the 32 NFL teams to draft.

Bowden’s final game comes on December 31st as the Wildcats play Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte.

Second Year In A Row

As mentioned earlier this is the second straight season a Kentucky football player has won a major award. Last season Josh Allen won numerous awards including the Bednarik Award for the best defensive player in college football. He has gone on to have a strong rookie campaign with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Much like Allen and Benny Snell did last year, Bowden is playing in Kentucky’s bowl game.

Beating Some Great Players

In order for Lynn Bowden to win the Paul Hornung Award he had to beat some very strong competition. The other three finalists were Clyde Edwards-Helaire  of top ranked LSU, Virginia’s Joe Reed and Nebraska’s Wan’Dale Robinson. The latter is a Kentucky native who originally committed to Kentucky before flipping to the Cornhuskers.

The Horung Award, named for the Louisville native, and former Notre Dame and Green Bay Packer great, is in it’s 10th season. Previous winners include Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and last year’s winner Rondale Moore. Bowden receives his trophy on March 4th, 2020 at the Galt House in Louisville.

Again Lynn Bowden wins the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player. His named is already etched as one of the best ever at Kentucky and this award only solidifies this even more.

 

 

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