SEC Football Awards announced for 2023 season

On Wednesday the SEC has announced its end-of-season awards for the fabulous 2023 year, honoring the standout players in each phase of the football while also recognizing the best rookie and the best coach.

The Offensive Player of the Year Award may be obvious, but beyond that, the SEC awarded a handful of players that most college football fans may not know right off the bat. So see who the league choice as the top blocker in the conference, the coach of the year, as well as the top performers among special teamers and freshmen.

Below, you can view each winner of this season’s annual SEC Football Awards:

Offensive Player of the Year

Just like in 2019, the LSU quarterback was the easy choice after the Tigers were by far the best offensive team in… not just the SEC, but statistically, in the entire country. And no, the Jayden Daniels selection for this honor wasn’t a case of picking the best player on the best offense. LSU was the best offense because they had the best player, by far, in Daniels.

He’s preparing to head to New York where he’ll compete for a Heisman Trophy most SEC fans will expect him to win. Meanwhile, he’s got an overwhelming case with his sports reference page. In year two at the helm in Baton Rouge, Jayden Daniels passed for just over 3,800 total yards and led the nation in yards per attempt both as a passer (11.7) and a rusher (8.4) while also leading the country in total touchdowns with 40.

Defensive Player of the Year

Dallas Turner is the pick for Defensive Player of the Year off of, no surprise, the best defense in the SEC with Alabama. Turner was a fierce pass rusher in year three with the Crimson Tide, posting 13.5 tackles for loss and 9.0 sacks, giving him 21.5 total sacks during his college career. He also added 50 tackles so far this season for the Tide.

Obviously, Turner and Alabama are far from finished this season. They’ll head off to face Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal, where Turner will have a chance to boost his already-skyrocketing NFL draft stock against one of the toughest offensive lines in football.

Special Teams Player of the Year

It’s more Alabama as veteran place kicker Will Reichard collects the SEC’s award for Special Teams Player of the year. Kicker was once a weak spot for the Crimson Tide under Nick Saban but Reichard has made a distant memory out of those struggles in the kicking game and was deadly this season.

He came into 2023 having made more than 80% of his kicks the two previous seasons combined and nailed 20 of 22 this year, good for 87% and 113 total points, which helped him become the SEC’s all-time leading scorer this fall, passing former Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson. He also spotted the Tide some help in the punting game and contributed four punts throughout the season.

Freshman of the Year

The run on Alabama continues when it comes to picking the best rookie in the conference. Here we have Caleb Downs, the five-star prospect, No. 5 overall recruit and No. 1 safety out of the 2023 recruiting class per the On3 Industry Rankings. Why mention the accolades? Because they were spot on in evaluation of Downs, who was a stud in year one.

No. 2 on the Crimson Tide defense leads the unit in tackles by more than 30 with 99 of them through 13 games, and barring catastrophe, he’ll get a 100th before his true freshman season ends. With Downs, Nick Saban has one of his best raw talents at DB in a long time.

Scholar-Athlete of the Year

This award honors the SEC student-athlete who excells both on the field and in the classroom. For this season, the SEC deemed that special someone to be Missouri quarterback Brady Cook, a graduate of Mizzou who had a tremendous senior season for the Tigers under center while also pursuing a graduate degree. Here was what the conference said of him winning the award:

“Cook earned his bachelor’s degree from Missouri in December 2022 and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Business Administration. He is a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Cook has thrown for 3,189 yards this season, which ranks third in the SEC and eighth on the Tigers’ all-time single season chart.”

Jacobs Blocking Trophy

The big fella in the middle, Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran, really held the fort down for a Bulldog offensive line that wasn’t quite as deep or as experienced as the units which won national championships in 2021 and 2022. However, it was still an elite unit and spearheaded by the guy pictured above.

As of the start of November, most of the way through the regular season, the Georgia center had yet to allow a sack or even a quarterback hit on Carson Beck, per PFF. The first-year starter under center was quite lucky to have such a stone wall snapping him the ball.

Coach of the Year

The Eli Drinkwitz project at Missouri was a slow build but it featured a mighty breakthrough in year four as the Tigers rocketed from back-to-back six-win seasons to finish 10-2, second in the SEC East while looking like, in the last two years, the division’s biggest threat to Georgia in some time. In CoMo, that is certainly worthy of celebration.

Missouri was stronger on defense than offense a year ago and were sound enough to remain competitive against Georgia and other SEC foes. Then, this season, the defense was solid again and they caught lightning in a bottle on offense with senior QB Brady Cook and a talented group of offensive playmakers highlighted by former five-star Luther Burden.