Story courtesy of the Nassau County Sports Commission
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics
BETHPAGE, N.Y. - The Nassau County Sports Commission, sponsored by Briarcliffe College, has released the 2012 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List. Given annually to the most outstanding collegiate tight end, the award recipient is selected by vote of the John Mackey Award Selection Committee and the 2012 John Mackey winner will be presented live on December 6, 2012 at The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show: 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Other key dates include the announcement of the 2012 Mackey semi-finalists on November 12, 2012 and the announcement of the 2012 Mackey finalists on November 19, 2012. All future announcements can be found at www.johnmackeyaward.org.
NFL Hall of Fame member John Mackey is considered to be the best to have played the tight end position. A tight end by whom all others are measured, Mackey was a role model on and off the field as demonstrated by his Super Bowl Championship, his commitment to community and his place in history as the first President of the NFLPA.
The John Mackey Award presented since 2000, lists eleven NFL players as alumni: 2006 Super Bowl Champion Dallas Clark ('01) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two-time Super Bowl Champion Daniel Graham ('02), Kellen Winslow II ('03) of the Seattle Seahawks, two-time Super Bowl Champion Heath Miller ('04) of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Marcedes Lewis ('05) of the Jacksonville Jaguars, 2008 Super Bowl Champion Matt Spaeth ('06) of the of the Chicago Bears, Fred Davis ('07) of the Washington Redskins, Chase Coffman ('08) of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Aaron Hernandez ('09) of the New England Patriots, D.J. Williams ('10) of the Green Bay Packers and the 2011 John Mackey Award recipient Dwayne Allen of the Indianapolis Colts.
2012 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List
(in alphabetical order)
First Name
Alex Bayer Bowling Green Jr
Ted Bolser Indiana Jr
Chase Clement LSU Sr
Jack Doyle Western Kentucky Sr
Tyler Eifert Notre Dame Sr
Gavin Escobar San Diego State Jr
Joseph Fauria UCLA Sr
C.J. Fiedorowicz Iowa Jr
Brandon Ford Clemson Sr
Matt Furstenburg Maryland Sr
Crockett Gillmore Colorado State Jr
Chris Gragg Arkansas Sr
Hubie Graham Pittsburgh Sr
Ryan Griffin Connecticut Sr
Chase Harper Texas State Sr
Garrett Hoskins Eastern Michigan Sr
Malcolm Johnson Mississippi State So
Philip Lutzenkirchen Auburn Sr
Jordan Najvar Baylor Jr
Ryan Otten San Jose State Sr
Chris Pantale Boston College Sr
Jacob Pedersen Wisconsin Jr
Mike Ragone Kansas Sr
Kyler Reed Nebraska Sr
Lucas Reed New Mexico Sr
Jordan Reed Florida Jr
Mychal Rivera Tennessee Sr
Austin Seferian-Jenkins Washington So
Dion Sims Michigan State Jr
Jake Stoneburner Ohio State Sr
Levine Toilolo Stanford Jr
Michael Williams Alabama Sr
Luke Willson Rice Sr
The John Mackey Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game's predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association's official website, www.NCFAA.org.