Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc., the Florida-based creator and sponsor of the prestigious Biletnikoff Award, announces the finalists for the 2022 Biletnikoff Award. The secure and confidential electronic voting by the distinguished members of the Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee was conducted from November 21 through November 26, 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 610 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.
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 2022 FanVote. Every fan may vote once daily on the Biletnikoff Award FanVote page. The aggregate fan tally will be counted toward official national selection committee votes to determine semifinalists, 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 2022 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented the Biletnikoff Award trophy by TQC Foundation Chairman Mark Ryan and banquet keynote speaker Drew Pearson, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, at the black-tie Biletnikoff Award Banquet & Celebration at the Dunlap Champions Club at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, March 11, 2023. 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, and Archie Griffin.
The TQC Foundation’s charitable mission is the provision of college and vocational scholarships to North Florida high school seniors who have overcome significant barriers to achieve at the highest academic and extracurricular levels. Participation in sports is not a requirement. The Foundation has provided over 300 scholarships with benefits of nearly five million dollars through 2022.
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.
The 2022 Biletnikoff Award finalists are as follows (in alphabetical order):
(See below)
Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
Xavier Hutchinson, Iowa State
Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee