TCU Football announces 2017 team awards

TCU announced its 2017 team award winners at a banquet on Thursday night, recognizing members of the team for their impact in a variety of ways, both on and off the field.

Patrick Morris and Travin Howard both earned two awards, while Kenny Hill received the award for Offensive MVP.

Meanwhile, Omar Manning, a 4-star wide receiver recruit from the class of 2017, earned Scout Team Offensive MVP. It was noted throughout the year just how dominant he was in practice, but the coaching staff opted not to burn his redshirt. An injury in the preseason last year set Manning back a bit, which led to his redshirt in the first place.

People often forget that Manning was just as highly regarded, if not slightly more so, as Jalen Reagor, who led TCU in receiving yards and touchdowns as a true freshman. With both on the field in 2018, opposing defenses will be constantly under fire.

Here’s the full list of award winners.

2017 TCU Football Team Award Winners

Defensive Scout Team Most Valuable Player – James Terry Jr. (Little Rock, Ark.)

Offensive Scout Team Most Valuable Player – Omar Manning (Lancaster, Texas)

Davey O’Brien Fightin’est Frog Award – Patrick Morris (Denton, Texas)

Grassy Hinton Most Conscientious Award – Patrick Morris (Denton, Texas)

Y.Q. McCammon Outstanding Squadman – Nate Guyton (Atlanta, Ga.)

Abe Martin Leadership Award – John Diarse (Monroe, La.)

Ralph Lowe Sportsmanship Award – Ty Summers (San Antonio, Texas)

G. Malcolm Louden Academic Achievement Award – Pakamiaiaea Davis (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) and Ryan Graf (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Special Teams Most Valuable Player – KaVontae Turpin (Monroe, La.)

Defensive Most Valuable Player – Travin Howard (Longview, Texas)

Offensive Most Valuable Player – Kenny Hill (Southlake, Texas)

Dan Rogers Most Valuable Player – Travin Howard (Longview, Texas)

Check out the full press release from TCU Athletics below:

The TCU football program honored its 2017 senior class at Thursday night’s team banquet in the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena.

Over the last four seasons, the seniors helped TCU post the Big 12’s second-best overall record (40-13) and conference mark (26-10). The 40 victories tie TCU’s 1935 national championship team seniors for No. 6 in most wins by a class. During their careers, the seniors won a Big 12 championship, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and two Valero Alamo Bowls.

In voting by his teammates, linebacker Travin Howard was selected as TCU’s Dan Rogers Most Valuable Player. Howard is the first linebacker to receive the award since LaMarcus McDonald in 2002.

Howard was also named the Defensive Most Valuable Player with quarterback Kenny Hill voted the Offensive MVP. KaVontae Turpin, as a return specialist, was the Special Teams MVP for the third straight season.

Howard earned first-team All-Big 12 honors for the second straight season and was honorable-mention Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He was also named the Valero Alamo Bowl Defensive Most Valuable Player for the second time in three years. His team-high 108 stops made him the first player in TCU history with three consecutive 100-tackle seasons and to lead the team in that category in three straight years. Despite missing two games due to injury, he ranked third in the Big 12 in tackles. Howard’s 343 career tackles are the most by a player in the 17-season tenure of head coach Gary Patterson. All 343 stops came in his final three seasons, as he was not credited with a tackle his freshman year.

Hill set a TCU season record with his 67.2 completion percentage while leading the nation with a 67.3 mark on third-down passing. He ran for a touchdown, threw a scoring pass and caught a touchdown pass in two separate games (versus West Virginia and Stanford). All other FBS players in the nation combined to accomplish that feat just once last season. He was named the Valero Alamo Bowl Offensive Most Valuable Player after setting a TCU bowl record with 401 yards of total offense. He led all Big 12 quarterbacks in rushing with 325 yards and was a Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist and Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist.

Turpin was one of five players nationally last season with a punt return and kickoff return for a touchdown. His 90-yard punt return for a score versus Kansas tied for the second-longest in TCU history. He averaged 16.2 yards on punt returns and 30.8 on kickoff returns. His four career special teams touchdowns are tied for the most in TCU history.