Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson and Florida State defensive end DeMarcus Walker will both be adding hardware to their trophy cases. On Wednesday, the ACC announced that Jackson and Walker will be winning offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively.
Jackson received 36 of the available 48 first-place votes after setting an ACC single-season record by accounting for 51 total touchdowns; 30 passing, 21 rushing. Jackson also set the ACC rushing record for a quarterback with 1,538 and amassed 610 total yards against Syracuse earlier this season, also an ACC record.
Runners up included Clemson’s DeShaun Watson with five votes and Florida State running back Dalvin Cook with three.
Meanwhile, DeMarcus Walker quietly had one of the more recent dominant season defensively in some time. Totaling 15 quarterback sacks on the year and 64 tackles on the year, he also forced three fumbles and recovered two of them.
While voting was slightly closer in the defensive category, there was still a significant gulf between Walker and the rest of the field. He garnered 23 of the first-place votes, while the second-place votegetter only had nine.
Congratulations to both Jackson and Walker. Lamar Jackson is the favorite for the Heisman trophy this season; ACC player of the year might be nothing more than an appetizer.
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Photo Credit: Lamar Jackson/Twitter