Yale’s Grooms wins Bushnell Cup for second straight year
For the second year in a row, Yale quarterback Nolan Grooms has been named a Asa S. Bushnell Cup recipient, earning Ivy League Offensive Player the of Year honors.
Grooms is the sixth player in history to be a Bushnell Cup recipient twice. The Bushnell Cup is voted on by all eight Ivy League football head coaches and is given to the players “who display outstanding qualities of leadership, competitive spirit, contribution to the team and accomplishments on the field.”
Grooms is now the second player in Yale history to be named a Bushnell Cup recipient twice, joining John Pagilaro who had done so in 1976 and 1977.
Grooms helped lead Yale to a share of the Ivy League title for a second season in a row after its 2318 victory over Harvard. Penn senior defensive lineman Joey Slackman was also named a recipient as the Defensive Player of the Year.
Grooms led the Ivy League with 22 passing touchdowns this season (ranking 13th nationally), compiling 2,451 yards of total offense with 1,863 passing and 588 rushing for two touchdowns.
The senior played in 40 games for Yale dating back to 2019 and has been the starter since the back half of the 2021 season. In his career at Yale he passed for 5,136 yards and 52 touchdowns and has rushed for 1,793 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Grooms led the Bulldogs to Ivy League titles in 2022 and 2023, his first two full seasons as a starter, and was part of the team when it also won in 2019.
“We’ve been doing this at Yale for more than 150 years, and Nolan Grooms is going to go down as one of the greatest ever to play football at Yale,” Yale coach Tony Reno said. “The thing you don’t know by how he throws passes and how he runs is the type of person he is. He’s an incredible leader, an incredible teammate and someone who drove our team for the last 25 games since he’s been our starting quarterback. There’s no player we’ve had in my time at Yale who made more big plays in big moments than Nolan Grooms.”