News

Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc., the Florida-based creator and sponsor of the prestigious Biletnikoff Award, announces the semifinalists for the 2023 Biletnikoff Award. The secure and confidential electronic voting by the distinguished members of the Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee was conducted from November 13th through November 19th, and certified by a prominent CPA firm.

The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the college football season’s outstanding FBS receiver. Any player, regardless of position (wide receiver, tight end, slot back, and running back) who catches a pass is eligible for the award. As such, the Biletnikoff Award recognizes college football’s outstanding receiver, not merely college football’s outstanding wide receiver.

The semifinalists, finalists, and award recipient are selected by the highly distinguished Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, a group of 650 prominent college football journalists, commentators, announcers, Biletnikoff Award winners, and other former receivers. Foundation trustees do not vote and have never voted. For a list of voters, please see BiletnikoffAward.com/voters.

Receivers are frequently added to the watch list as their season performances dictate. Actual, not potential, performance is the basis for inclusion on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.

The Biletnikoff Award candidate eligibility and voting criteria, transparently explicit and detailed, are available for review at BiletnikoffAward.com/criteria.

Recently, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation opened the 2023 FanVote. Every fan may vote once daily on the Biletnikoff Award FanVote page. The aggregate fan tally will be counted as one official vote to determine semi-finalists, finalists (three receivers), and the winner. In the closest contest in years, the FanVote tally provided the one-vote margin of victory for 2013 winner Brandin Cooks of Oregon State.

The correlation between Biletnikoff Award winners and stardom in the National Football League is nearly uniformly consistent. Past Biletnikoff Award winners include Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper, Golden Tate, Brandin Cooks, the late Terry Glenn, Ja’Marr Chase, and Larry Fitzgerald.

The 2023 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented the Biletnikoff Award trophy by TQC Foundation Founding Trustee and Chairman Walter Manley II, Fred Biletnikoff, and the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner and national champion Danny Wuerffel, keynote speaker, at the black-tie Biletnikoff Award Banquet & Celebration at the Dunlap Champions Club, at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, March 9, 2024. The banquet was hailed by 2014 keynote speaker Dick Vermeil, as well as by 2013 keynoter Larry Csonka, as “the best banquet in college sports.”

The banquet has featured distinguished keynoters of profound character and accomplishments including the late Bart Starr, Dick Vermeil, the late Floyd Little, Larry Csonka, Steve Largent, Mike Ditka, the late Don Shula, the late Dan Reeves, Archie Manning, Ron Jaworski, Gene Stallings, Bob Griese, Bill Curry, the late Bobby Bowden, Jim Kelly, Jerry Kramer, Joe Theismann, Dan Fouts, Chad Hennings, Lou Holtz, Aaron Taylor, Archie Griffin, and Drew Pearson.

The 501(c)(3) TQC Foundation’s charitable mission is the provision of college and vocational scholarships to North Florida high school seniors who have overcome significant challenges to achieve at the highest academic and extracurricular levels. Participation in sports is not a requirement, but does count as an extracurricular activity. The all-volunteer Foundation has provided over 300 scholarships with benefits of nearly five million dollars through 2023. TQC Foundation Chairman Manley, serving his 26th year as fundraising chairman, recently announced a goal of 10 million dollars to be awarded in scholarships by 2030, doubling the current aggregate total of $5 million awarded through 2023.

The 2023 Biletnikoff Award semifinalists are as follows (in alphabetical order):
(See below)

Brock Bowers (TE), Georgia
Luther Burden III (WR), Missouri
Keon Coleman (WR), Florida State
Troy Franklin (WR), Oregon
Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR), Ohio State
Xavier Legette (WR), South Carolina
Malik Nabers (WR), LSU
Rome Odunze (WR), Washington
Brian Thomas Jr. (WR), LSU
Malik Washington (WR), Virginia

The name Biletnikoff is synonymous with the term receiver. Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the pro and college football halls of fame, was a consensus All-America receiver at Florida State University and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978. Fred was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.