ORLANDO, Fla. – The nominations keep rolling in for the University of Central Florida football team, spawning two more award nominations to players.
Senior defensive lineman Jamiyus Pittman was nominated to the Outland Trophy watch list for best linemen in college football, while redshirt senior linebacker Shaquem Griffin garnered his second nomination, this one for the Bronko Narguski Trophy watch list.
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Griffin, who was recently nominated for the Chuck Bednarik Award for best defensive player in the country, will also now compete for the best defensive standout player in college football.
Coming off a 2016 season that included 11.5 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, 92 total tackles, two forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and an interception, Griffin will be one of the key leaders on the team that hopes to have another successful year.
But Pittman will also be a key factor, as the defensive lineman had a strong 2016 campaign as well, totaling 28 tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks, one pass break-up and two fumble recoveries.
Pittman joins 20 other defensive tackles on the watch list, joining 60 other interior linemen around the nation. The list for the Outland award will be cut down to about six or seven names on Nov. 15, six days before three finalists are named by the Football Writers Association of America. The winner of the award will be announced on Dec. 7 with the rest of the college football awards.
The Outland award was named after John Outland, who was an All-American linemen at Penn.
Griffin's nomination gives him the chance to be chosen as one of five finalists announced on Nov. 16. The FWAA will have to choose the winner out of 103 defensive players to make the list. The overall winner will be chosen on Dec. 7 at the Home Depot College Football Awards show.
The Bronko Narguski award is named after Narguski, who was a standout player in college football before joining the NFL and playing for the Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Narguski played college ball for the University of Minnesota.