Mountain West Football: Five Named To Biletnikoff Award Watch List
The Mountain West is stacked with talented running backs in 2020, seven of whom were named among the nation’s best to watch.
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Flush with backfield talent.
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College football’s watch list season continued today with the reveal of athletes in the running for the Biletnikoff Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best pass catcher. Five different Mountain West wide receivers made the overall preseason cut.
Three different receivers in this particular group of five topped 1,100 yards receiving in 2019. Colorado State’s Warren Jackson caught 77 passes for 1,119 yards and eight touchdowns, while Hawaii’s Jared Smart had 1,129 yards and five touchdowns on 87 catches, the most among any returning receiver in the Mountain West, and San Jose State’s Tre Walker led the conference with 1,161 yards and two scores on 79 catches.
Boise State’s Khalil Shakir, meanwhile, comes into the 2020 campaign as Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded player at any position last fall. He led the Broncos with 63 catches and finished the year with 872 yards and six touchdowns.
Elijah Cooks helped lead the Nevada Wolf Pack’s Air Raid attack by catching a team-high 76 catches, good for sixth in the Mountain West, for 926 yards and eight touchdowns. That tied with Jackson for the most among returning conference pass catchers.
Last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner was Louisiana State’s Ja’Marr Chase.
