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https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-football-2016-pff-college-award-winners/
Best receiver
Dede Westbrook, WR, Oklahoma
PFF Grade: 88.5; Pos. rank: 4
What’s most startling about the numbers Dede Westbrook put up this year is that he didn’t top 70 receiving yards in any of the first three games of the year. From that point on however, his lowest yardage output in a single game was 59 yards in the Sooners’ bowl game, and he dipped below the 100-yard mark just three times from the game against TCU in Week 5 to season’s end. Westbrook forced 20 missed tackles on 80 receptions, averaged 19.0 yards per catch, 9.7 yards after the catch and scored 17 touchdowns, proving to be the key offensive weapon on one of the most high-powered offenses in the nation.
Westbrook averaged 4.03 yards per route run, third at wide receiver behind only Jalin Robinette at Air Force, and Colorado State’s Michael Gallup. He also has a pretty reliable pair of hands, dropping just four of the 84 catchable passes thrown his way. With a fantastic ability to find the big play, both downfield and by making defenders miss in space after the catch, Westbrook won the Biletnikoff Award this year and is also our top receiver after such a strong end to the year. Baker Mayfield’s top target, Westbrook’s numbers in 2016 are far too good to ignore. – Gordon McGuinness
Best pass-rusher
Derek Barnett, ED, Tennessee
PFF grade: 92.1; Pos. rank: 3
This may not be a big surprise, but Derek Barnett had a pretty phenomenal season. While Barnett’s run defense was far from anything to scoff at, it was his ability as a pass-rusher that truly set him apart. While players like Kansas State’s Jordan Willis and FAU’s Trey Henrickson had great pass-rushing seasons, Barnett absolutely deserves the award for best pass-rusher.
Barnett finished the year with 13 sacks, 22 hits and an additional 42 quarterback hurries. Those 75 total pressures ranked fourth in the country among all edge rushers. His 16.1 pass-rushing productivity of 16.1 also ranked fourth, showing that he didn’t just rack up a ton of pressures based on volume of snaps. He also had an additional 13 plays in which he cleanly beat his man rushing the passer, but was unable to record a pressure (due to a quick release by the QB or something similar).
Barnett was a consistent force for opposing right tackles, and had some massive games for the Tennessee defense. He had seven games in which he had more than five total pressures and three games where he had more than 10 pressures. He never had a below-average pass-rushing grade in any game this season. His 92.6 season pass-rush grade ranked second among all edge defenders (trailing only Willis). While some edge rushers may have had more pressures than Barnett, few were as consistent and as dominant as Barnett was. That’s why he deserves this award. – Bryson Vesnaver
Best run defender
Solomon Thomas, DI, Stanford
PFF grade: 91.6; Pos. rank: 3
Stanford didn’t have quite as successful a year as they would’ve liked, but there were still plenty of bright spots for the team. One of those bright spots was defensive tackle Solomon Thomas, who’s strong play has earned the PFF Best Run Defender Award.
While many took notice of Thomas’ strong play in the Sun Bowl (he had a 92.5 overall game grade), it was nothing out of the ordinary for his season. Thomas finished the year with the highest run-defense grade in the country among all interior defenders at 92.0. His lowest run-defense game grade of the year was 77.4 in Week 10 against Oregon State, which is still above average. He had nine games in which his run-defense grade was above 80.0, and two where it was above 90.0. While some players had great games, Thomas was consistently dominant against the run in every game he played.
Thomas finished the year with a very impressive 37 solo run stops, which was the most among all defensive tackles in the country. He didn’t just get so many stops due to volume either, as his run-stop percentage of 12.3 percent ranked fifth among all defensive tackles. He made big stop after big stop, and there were just so many games in which his run defense seemed to single-handedly lift Stanford’s defense to success. While there were plenty of strong candidates, nobody was stronger than Solomon Thomas. – Bryson Vesnaver
Best coverage defender
Tedric Thompson, S, Colorado
PFF grade: 83.8; Pos. rank: 11
The Colorado Buffaloes’ performance and them getting to the Pac-12 Championship Game was one of the surprises of the season. A big part of Colorado’s success was the play of their secondary and how they could shut wide receivers down for entire games. While there were three elite performances from cornerbacks on that team, the award goes to Thompson, who lined up occasionally as a cornerback, but played the majority of his snaps as a free safety. His position, combined with his playmaking ability, made quarterbacks think twice about targeting the middle of the field and his range forced opposing signal callers to be more precise on sideline passes as well.
Thompson, who edged out Nebraska’s Nate Gerry for this award, recorded seven interceptions this season, tied for third-most in the nation and tied for most for safeties in college football. Furthermore, the Colorado safety had seven pass breakups as well, tied for third among safeties. Thompson’s best outing came against the Utah Utes as he allowed only two receptions for one yard on 11 targets while also recording two interceptions and two pass breakups in that game. Also, unlike some other players, Thompson not only made big defensive plays, but also did not allow a lot of offensive plays. As a result, he allowed only one touchdown in coverage, which led to an opposing passer rating of 22.3 on the season, the second-lowest among safeties in the nation. – Zoltan Buday
Best receiver
Dede Westbrook, WR, Oklahoma
PFF Grade: 88.5; Pos. rank: 4
What’s most startling about the numbers Dede Westbrook put up this year is that he didn’t top 70 receiving yards in any of the first three games of the year. From that point on however, his lowest yardage output in a single game was 59 yards in the Sooners’ bowl game, and he dipped below the 100-yard mark just three times from the game against TCU in Week 5 to season’s end. Westbrook forced 20 missed tackles on 80 receptions, averaged 19.0 yards per catch, 9.7 yards after the catch and scored 17 touchdowns, proving to be the key offensive weapon on one of the most high-powered offenses in the nation.
Westbrook averaged 4.03 yards per route run, third at wide receiver behind only Jalin Robinette at Air Force, and Colorado State’s Michael Gallup. He also has a pretty reliable pair of hands, dropping just four of the 84 catchable passes thrown his way. With a fantastic ability to find the big play, both downfield and by making defenders miss in space after the catch, Westbrook won the Biletnikoff Award this year and is also our top receiver after such a strong end to the year. Baker Mayfield’s top target, Westbrook’s numbers in 2016 are far too good to ignore. – Gordon McGuinness
Best pass-rusher
Derek Barnett, ED, Tennessee
PFF grade: 92.1; Pos. rank: 3
This may not be a big surprise, but Derek Barnett had a pretty phenomenal season. While Barnett’s run defense was far from anything to scoff at, it was his ability as a pass-rusher that truly set him apart. While players like Kansas State’s Jordan Willis and FAU’s Trey Henrickson had great pass-rushing seasons, Barnett absolutely deserves the award for best pass-rusher.
Barnett finished the year with 13 sacks, 22 hits and an additional 42 quarterback hurries. Those 75 total pressures ranked fourth in the country among all edge rushers. His 16.1 pass-rushing productivity of 16.1 also ranked fourth, showing that he didn’t just rack up a ton of pressures based on volume of snaps. He also had an additional 13 plays in which he cleanly beat his man rushing the passer, but was unable to record a pressure (due to a quick release by the QB or something similar).
Barnett was a consistent force for opposing right tackles, and had some massive games for the Tennessee defense. He had seven games in which he had more than five total pressures and three games where he had more than 10 pressures. He never had a below-average pass-rushing grade in any game this season. His 92.6 season pass-rush grade ranked second among all edge defenders (trailing only Willis). While some edge rushers may have had more pressures than Barnett, few were as consistent and as dominant as Barnett was. That’s why he deserves this award. – Bryson Vesnaver
Best run defender
Solomon Thomas, DI, Stanford
PFF grade: 91.6; Pos. rank: 3
Stanford didn’t have quite as successful a year as they would’ve liked, but there were still plenty of bright spots for the team. One of those bright spots was defensive tackle Solomon Thomas, who’s strong play has earned the PFF Best Run Defender Award.
While many took notice of Thomas’ strong play in the Sun Bowl (he had a 92.5 overall game grade), it was nothing out of the ordinary for his season. Thomas finished the year with the highest run-defense grade in the country among all interior defenders at 92.0. His lowest run-defense game grade of the year was 77.4 in Week 10 against Oregon State, which is still above average. He had nine games in which his run-defense grade was above 80.0, and two where it was above 90.0. While some players had great games, Thomas was consistently dominant against the run in every game he played.
Thomas finished the year with a very impressive 37 solo run stops, which was the most among all defensive tackles in the country. He didn’t just get so many stops due to volume either, as his run-stop percentage of 12.3 percent ranked fifth among all defensive tackles. He made big stop after big stop, and there were just so many games in which his run defense seemed to single-handedly lift Stanford’s defense to success. While there were plenty of strong candidates, nobody was stronger than Solomon Thomas. – Bryson Vesnaver
Best coverage defender
Tedric Thompson, S, Colorado
PFF grade: 83.8; Pos. rank: 11
The Colorado Buffaloes’ performance and them getting to the Pac-12 Championship Game was one of the surprises of the season. A big part of Colorado’s success was the play of their secondary and how they could shut wide receivers down for entire games. While there were three elite performances from cornerbacks on that team, the award goes to Thompson, who lined up occasionally as a cornerback, but played the majority of his snaps as a free safety. His position, combined with his playmaking ability, made quarterbacks think twice about targeting the middle of the field and his range forced opposing signal callers to be more precise on sideline passes as well.
Thompson, who edged out Nebraska’s Nate Gerry for this award, recorded seven interceptions this season, tied for third-most in the nation and tied for most for safeties in college football. Furthermore, the Colorado safety had seven pass breakups as well, tied for third among safeties. Thompson’s best outing came against the Utah Utes as he allowed only two receptions for one yard on 11 targets while also recording two interceptions and two pass breakups in that game. Also, unlike some other players, Thompson not only made big defensive plays, but also did not allow a lot of offensive plays. As a result, he allowed only one touchdown in coverage, which led to an opposing passer rating of 22.3 on the season, the second-lowest among safeties in the nation. – Zoltan Buday
