May 7, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. -- Sophomore Taylor Heinicke (Atlanta, Ga.) was named to the Quarterback Watch List by the College Football Performance Awards.
The purpose of the College Football Performance Awards is to provide the most scientifically rigorous conferments in college football. Recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.
As a freshman, Heinicke was bestowed a trio of honors by the CFPA. In addition to the organization's Quarterback Award, he was also honored as the CFPA National Freshman Performer of the Year and the FCS National Performer of the Year.
The runner-up for the Jerry Rice Award by The Sports Network, awarded to the National Freshman of the Year, Heinicke was also named to the Sports Journal All-Freshman Team, a Third Team All-CAA honoree, selected as a two-time National Freshman of the Week by The Sports Network and earned CAA Rookie of the Week three times for his efforts in 2011.
Heinicke took over quarterback duties for the Monarchs in the second half of ODU's week five game with #20 UMass and went on to finish out the 2011 campaign completing 211 of his 307 passes with just one interception, a hail mary pass at the end of ODU's contest with Towson, and 25 touchdowns. In playoff action, the true freshman signal caller set school records with five touchdown passes in games against both Norfolk State and #3/2 Georgia Southern and averaged 307.5 yards passing in the post-season.
Although his name does not appear in the conference or national stats having not played in the minimum 75% of games played to qualify, if Heinicke's name did appear, his 265 passing yards per game would have ranked 18th nationally, his 160.2 pass efficiency rating would place him fifth nationally, and his 305.3 yards of total offense per contest would put his name 10th nationally.
As the 2012 season approaches, College Football Performance Awards will be releasing a preseason watch list each week from now until pre-season. For more information on the College Football Performance Awards, click here.
2012 CFPA Quarterback Watch List
Deaunte Mason, Alabama A&M
Jamal Jackson, Appalachian State
Andre Broadous, Cal Poly
Aramis Hillary, Coastal Carolina
Gavin McCarney, Colgate
Sean Brackett, Columbia
Jeff Mathews, Cornell
Mike Piatkowski, Drake
Sean Patterson, Duquesne
T.J. Pryor, Eastern Kentucky
Colton Chapple, Harvard
Kevin Yost, Idaho State
Matt Brown, Illinois State
Coty Blanchard, Jacksonville State
Andrew Shoop, Lafayette
Riley Dodge, McNeese State
Trevor Wooden, Missouri State
Jordan Johnson, Montana
Denarius McGhee, Montana State
Zach Lewis, Morehead State
Casey Brockman, Murray State
Brock Jensen, North Dakota State
Cary Grossart, Northern Arizona
Taylor Heinicke, Old Dominion
Billy Ragone, Pennsylvania
Jeff Sinclair, Robert Morris
Brian Bell, Sam Houston State
Mason Mills, San Diego
Brad Sorensen, Southern Utah
Brady Attaway, Stephen F. Austin
Kyle Essington, Stony Brook
Tre Lamb, Tennessee Tech
Grant Enders, Towson
Randy Wright, UC-Davis
Derek Carr, UT-Martin
Chris Polony, Villanova
Mike Hoke, Weber State
Kurt Hess, Youngstown State