Louisville Football: Lamar Jackson wrongfully snubbed from Maxwell Finalists
By Jesse Smith
Louisville football quarterback Lamar Jackson was omitted from the list of finalists for the Maxwell Award given annually to the collegiate player of the year.
Winning the Maxwell Award is an amazing accomplishment. It is normally given to the most dynamic and import player in the country. That’s is why Lamar Jackson being left off of this list is crazy for me to wrap my head around.
I’m not dogging on any of those who were named finalists. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield (quarterback), Stanford’s Bryce Love (running back) and Penn State’s Saquon Barkley (running back) are all incredible players, but Jackson not being in the top three is crazy to me. Mayfield and Barkley are both great, but they have talented counterparts in the backfield running back Rodney Anderson for Mayfield and quarterback Trace McSorley for Barkley. Running back Bryce Love is all by himself, but nobody does more for one team than Jackson.
Louisville is 7-4 overall and 4-4 in the ACC Atlantic. Many might have expected Louisville to be closer to the top of their division, but if they didn’t have the 2016 Heisman trophy winner there’s no way they would be bowl eligible. I personally think he is the best player in college football. He doesn’t get afforded the comfort to make an error because of a spotty defense (I’m being nice with the term spotty). I’ve watched multiple games where Jackson has led this team back just for his defense to give up the lead **cough cough** the North Carolina State game in the middle of the season.
He has a good chance to have more passing yards than his Heisman season this year as well as a better completion percentage this season. None can match him when he gets outside of the pocket. Just think about it. He has two games left where he can possibly build on these stats.
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Current stat line: (passing) 226-for-378 passing for 3,273 yards, 23 touchdown and six interceptions on 59.8 completion percentage. (Rushing) 190 carries for 1,287 yards and 17 touchdowns (with two games left).
If you watched him play this season you know he deserves to be in a Maxwell finalist, but because of his team not performing at a high level he is being penalized.