Montana Freshman Running Back Eli Gillman Selected as 2023 Jerry Rice Award Recipient

Proper after Montana working again Eli Gillman crossed the objective line following his 85-yard landing run at UC Davis two months in the past, he instantly raised his proper index finger to image “No. 1” – not unusual for any soccer celebration.

Little did Gillman know, nevertheless, it was the longest landing run within the Grizzly program’s storied historical past and a prelude to him being No. 1 in a handful of how throughout his standout redshirt freshman season.

Gillman ranked No. 1 in dashing yards and tied for probably the most touchdowns amongst Division I FCS freshmen throughout the common season, and it’s all led to Stats Carry out asserting on Wednesday he’s the 2023 recipient of the Jerry Rice Award, which honors the nationwide freshman participant of the 12 months and is offered by FedEx Floor.

Like his record-setting landing run, Gillman was a runaway winner of the thirteenth annual award, named after legendary vast receiver Jerry Rice, who starred at Mississippi Valley State as a part of his Corridor of Fame profession. A nationwide, 56-member panel voted on the award, with Gillman’s 203-point complete No. 1 amongst 22 finalists, together with Jap Illinois working again MJ Flowers, the runner-up with 119 factors.

“Eli’s a terrific younger man who does every little thing proper on and off the sphere. He’s a pleasure to educate, he’s an ideal teammate, and he’s an excellent working again,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck mentioned. “His bodily fashion of working and manufacturing have helped us be the quantity two staff within the nation at this level.”

The 6-foot, 206-pound Gillman, from Dassel, Minnesota, earned the Massive Sky Convention’s freshman of the 12 months award, carrying the ball 152 instances for 857 yards (5.6 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns whereas going over the century mark thrice in 11 regular-season video games. He additionally caught 11 passes for 103 yards for the Massive Sky championship squad.

In Montana’s playoff win in opposition to Delaware this previous Saturday, he rushed for 42 yards.

The Jerry Rice Award’s wealthy historical past of recipients contains Cooper Kupp, Chase Edmonds, Trey Lance and Shedeur Sanders. To be eligible for the award, a participant have to be thought-about a freshman athletically by his convention in his first or second educational 12 months.

Gillman might be feted on the Stats Carry out FCS Nationwide Awards Banquet on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas – the eve of the FCS championship recreation. As well as, the winners of the Walter Payton Award (FCS offensive participant of the 12 months), Buck Buchanan Award (FCS defensive participant of the 12 months), Eddie Robinson Award (FCS coach of the 12 months) and FedEx Floor Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete of the Yr Award might be honored on the banquet.

2023 Jerry Rice Award Voting Outcomes

Following is a breakdown of the voting outcomes. A primary-place vote was value 5 factors, a second-place vote 4 factors, a third-place vote three factors, a fourth-place vote two factors and a fifth-place vote one level. The ultimate quantity is the mixed level complete.

1. Eli Gillman, RB, Montana: 31-6-6-2-2-203

2. MJ Flowers, RB, Jap Illinois: 6-11-6-10-7-119

3. Jawarn Howell, RB, South Carolina State: 6-6-2-10-1-81

4. Tye Niekamp, LB, Illinois State: 3-6-8-3-6-75

5. Griffin Woodell, RB, UAlbany: 3-4-8-5-2-67

6. Conner Moore, LT, Montana State: 2-3-6-6-6-58

7. Jaylen King, QB, Gardner-Webb, QB: 2-6-4-3-5-57

8. Carter Glassmyer, LB, Saint Francis: 0-5-4-6-9-53

9. Beau Sparks, WR, Utah Tech: 1-3-4-3-7-42

10. VJ Wilkins, WR, Campbell: 0-3-1-0-1-16

11.(tie) Hunter Inexperienced, PK/P, Northern Colorado: 0-0-2-2-4-14

11.(tie) Malachi Hosley, RB, Penn: 0-3-0-1-0-14