Ole Miss’ A.J. Brown named to Maxwell Award watch list

Published 10:00 am Monday, July 16, 2018

A.J. Brown is up for one of college football’s most prestigious awards.

Ole Miss’ junior wide receiver has been named to the Maxwell Award watch list by the Maxwell Football Club. The award is given annually to the nation’s College Player of the Year.

Semifinalists for the award will be decided on Oct. 29 before finalists are named on Nov. 19. The winner will be announced Dec. 6 as part of the College Football Awards Show.

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Eli Manning is Ole Miss’ lone Maxwell winner, taking the award in 2003. Only twice since then — running back Derrick Henry in 2015 and linebacker Manti Te’o in 2012 — has someone other than a quarterback won the award.

A preseason All-American and projected top-10 pick in next year’s NFL Draft, Brown has caught 104 passes for 1,664 yards and 13 touchdowns his first two seasons in Oxford. The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder set single-season school records in receiving yards (1,252) and touchdowns (11) last season, both of which led the SEC, and holds the program record for the most receiving yards in a game.