BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – LSU’s Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Joe Burrow has been named the 2019-2020 Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year by a vote of the league’s athletic directors, Commissioner Greg Sankey announced on Wednesday.
With Burrow claiming the SEC Male Athlete of the Year honors, LSU has now swept the two biggest awards handed out by the league this year. Last month, LSU’s Skylar Mays was named the winner of the McWhorter Award, which is presented to the top scholar-athlete in the league.
It’s the second time LSU has swept the SEC’s two biggest awards in the same season. LSU did it in 2006 when Rudy Niswanger (football) claimed the McWhorter Award and both Xavier Carter (track and field) and Seimone Augustus (women’s basketball) were named SEC Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
South Carolina basketball player Tyasha Harris was named the 2019-2020 SEC Female Athletes of the Year.
“The SEC is proud to honor Joe and Tyasha as the recipients of this year’s Roy F. Kramer Athletes of the Year,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “They have competed at the highest level of collegiate athletics and through their hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence have been successful in their endeavors. They are great examples of what it means to be a student-athlete in the Southeastern Conference and are outstanding representatives of their universities as both students and athletes.”
Athens, Ohio, native, Joe Burrow, set the NCAA FBS record with 60 touchdown passes while leading the nation with an LSU and SEC record 5,671 passing yards. He also set the NCAA FBS record for touchdowns accounted for in a season with 65 (60 passing, 5 rushing).
He led the Tigers to a perfect 15-0 season, including a 42-25 College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship victory over defending champion Clemson. Burrow was named the Most Outstanding Player of the championship game after throwing for 463 yards and five touchdowns.
For the season, Burrow earned nearly every national honor possible – he won the Heisman Trophy, the AP National Player of the Year award, the Manning Award, the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O’Brien Award and the Johnny Unitas Award as well as being a unanimous First-Team All-American and the SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
He owns school career records for total yards (9,332), touchdown passes (76), completion percentage (.685), passing yards per game (305.9), 300-yard passing games (15), 400-yard passing games (4) and touchdowns responsible for (88: 12 rush, 76 pass). He finished his career having thrown for 300 yards in nine consecutive games and having completed 20 or more passes in 18 straight games, two more LSU records.
Burrow was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft in April.
In her four seasons as the Gamecocks’ point guard, Tyasha Harris set program records for career assists (702) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.55) and tied the record for games played (139).
The Noblesville, Indiana, native earned All-SEC honors three times, including first-team selection this past season. She also added All-America recognition and the Dawn Staley Award to her trophy case. Harris was a finalist for every national player of the year award as well.
Harris’ senior leadership and command of a young team guided South Carolina to another sweep of the SEC – 16-0 for the regular-season championship and another tournament title – and the first No. 1 ranking in both final national polls in program history.
The other male nominees were: Zane Waddell, Swimming & Diving, Alabama; Mason Jones, Basketball, Arkansas; Derrick Brown, Football, Auburn; Kieran Smith, Swimming & Diving, Florida; Rodrigo Blankenship, Football, Georgia; Immanuel Quickley, Basketball, Kentucky; Waleed Suliman, Cross Country, Ole Miss; Reggie Perry, Basketball, Mississippi State; Danny Kovac, Swimming & Diving, Missouri; Itay Goldfaden, Swimming & Diving, South Carolina; Carey McLeod, Track & Field, Tennessee; Shaine Casas, Swimming & Diving, Texas A&M; John Augenstein, Golf, Vanderbilt.
The other female nominees were: Bailey Hemphill, Softball, Alabama; Katie Izzo, Cross Country, Arkansas; Alison Maillard, Swimming & Diving, Auburn; Trinity Thomas, Gymnastics, Florida; Sabrina Vega, Gymnastics, Georgia; Leah Edmond, Volleyball, Kentucky; Tonea Marshall, Track & Field, LSU; Julia Johnson, Golf, Ole Miss; Rickea Jackson, Basketball, Mississippi State; Kylie Deberg, Volleyball, Missouri; Erika Brown, Swimming & Diving, Tennessee; Ally Watt, Soccer, Texas A&M; Maria Bulanova, Bowling, Vanderbilt.
The SEC Athletes of the Year Awards were first presented in 1976 for men and 1984 for women. The award was renamed the Roy F. Kramer Athletes of the Year in 2004 to honor the former Commissioner who served the conference from 1990-2002.