Finalists announced for the 2022 Broyles Award
With the regular season wrapping up, award season is upon us. Amongst those awards is the Broyles Award, which is handed out to the nation’s top assistant coach each year. Per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, the finalists for the award have now been announced and it’s a stacked group of five candidates.
Feldman tweeted out the list earlier today. The list features Tennessee OC Alex Golesh, Michigan DC Jesse Minter, Georgia OC Todd Monken, TCU OC Garrett Riley, and Illinois DC Ryan Walters.
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Four of the five finalists have helped their teams make a playoff push. Monken coached an underrated Bulldog offense that sits 12th in the nation. Minter is in his first season coaching the Wolverine’s defense and led them to a third overall finish on the year. Riley, brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley, has TCU’s offense sitting fourth in the country. Finally, we all know what Golesh did for Tennessee as the Volunteers boasted the year’s best offense with a ridiculous average of 47.3 points per game.
Walters is the only one whose team never made a push for their conference or the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t take away from his efforts at Illinois, though. He coached a Fighting Illini defense that surprised this season by finishing second overall as they allowed just 12.2 points per game. That stout unit helped their program go on a five-week stretch in the AP Poll.
A committee of former coaches, media members, and representatives of the Football Writers Association of America select the finalists and winners each season for the Broyles Award. Based on their evaluation, it’s hard to argue with their selections as all five would be more than deserving because of their work during the 2022 campaign.