Burrow, Heisman favorite, starts awards haul
What figures to be an award-winning week for LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is underway.
Burrow was named The Associated Press college football player of the year on Thursday in a landslide vote, making him the first LSU player to win the the 21-yearold award. Burrow, who has led the top-ranked Tigers to an unbeaten season and their first College Football Playoff appearance, received 51 of 54 first-place votes from AP Top 25 poll voters and a total of 159 points.
Ohio State defensive end Chase Young was second with three first-place votes and 69 points while Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields was third with 43 points. Burrow, Young, Fields and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, who finished fourth with 33 points, are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy to be handed out Saturday in New York.
Burrow is the overwhelming He is man favorite after passing for 4,715 yards and a Southeastern Conference record 48 touchdowns.
Burrow also won the Maxwell Award Player of the Year, beating out Young and Hurts, and the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year Award, beating out Fields and Hurts.
Other awards handed out Thursday:
• Young won the Chuck Bednarik Award, given to the top defensive player.
• Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor won the Doak Walker Award as the top running back for the second consecutive season.
• Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewell won the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman.
• LSU’s Ed Orgeron won the Home Depot coach of the year award.
SAN JOSE STATE’S BRENNAN GETS EXTENSION »
San Jose State football coach Brent Brennan has received a contract extension after a breakthrough 2019 season that nearly landed Spartans back in a bowl game. The school announced the agreement on Thursday night and will hold an oncampus news conference today.
Brennan, 46, took over the program in 2017. After a 3-22 record his first two seasons at San Jose State, including going 1-11 in 2018, the program took off this season under Brennan. SJSU went 5-7, one win shy of bowl eligibility. The season included the program’s first- ever win over an SEC opponent (31-24 at Arkansas) and was punctuated with the first victory in the rivalry series against Fresno State in three years.
Brennan’s original deal went through 2021.
MCCAFFREY HIRED AS NORTHERN COLORADO COACH »
Three-time Super Bowl champion Ed McCaffrey is the new head football coach at Northern Colorado. McCaffrey, who won two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and one with the San Francisco 49ers during his 14-year NFL career, spent the past two years as head football coach at powerhouse Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, where his sons Max, Christian, Dylan and Luke all played.
NHL
HALLOF FAMER THOMAS DETAILS BRAIN DAMAGE FROM HOCKEY » Doctors told Tim Thomas that two-thirds of his brain was getting less than 5% blood flow and the other third was averaging about 50%.
His wife, Melissa, and oldest daughter, Kiley, started crying. Thomas didn’t react — because he couldn’t process what he was hearing.
“I couldn’t believe it because I couldn’t function well enough to understand it,” he said.
Now years removed from the goaltending career and the concussions that caused somany problems, Thomas on Thursday detailed the brain damage that derailed his life. He wrestled with the positive memories of winning the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011 as playoff MVP, his love of the game and the effects that playing in the NHL had on his brain.
Before being inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Thomas got choked up discussing the past several trying years and his long road to being able to talk about his problems. He is better now but still isn’t close to normal. FINALLY, RED WINGS GET A WIN » Robby Fabbri scored twice on fortuitous bounces off the same Winnipeg player, and the Detroit Red Wings snapped a 12-game winless streak with a 5-2 home victory over the Jets.
The Red Wings had been 0-10-2 in their previous 12 and had dropped 10 in a row in regulation. Darren Helm, Filip Zadina and Filip Hronek also scored for Detroit.
Golf
AMERICANS RALLY LATE TO ONLY TRAIL BY 3 IN PRESIDENTS CUP » Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott rallied from 2 down by winning five of the next seven holes and closed out Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar in the opening foursomes match of the Presidents Cup. Marc Leishman and Abraham Ancer bulled their way to victory over Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson at Royal Melbourne( Australia ).
At one point, the International team had a chance to sweep the session.
Instead, the Americans take a little momentum into a double session of matches today, winning two matches on the 18th hole and halving another. The International team led 6½-3½, its largest lead since it won at Royal Melbourne in 1998.
Soccer
PULISIC IS USMNT PLAYER OF YEAR FOR 2ND TIME » Christian Pulisic was voted the U.S. Soccer Federation male player of the year, at 21 becoming the youngest to earn the honor for the second time.
Pulisic also won the award in 2017. Landon Donovan was 22 when he won the second of his four awards in 2004.
Pulisic had five goals and three assists for the U.S. this year. The midfielder and occasional forward received 38% of votes, followed by forward Jordan Morris (35%) and Weston McKennie (13%).
STANFORD MEN IN NATIONAL SEMIFINALS » In the College Cup for the fourth time in five season sand seventh time overall, three-time NCAA champion and No. 7 seed Stanford (14-2-5) is in Cary, North Carolina for a national semifinal against thirdseeded Georgetown (18-1-3) today at 3 p.m. The winner will play for the championship Sunday against the winner of the Wake Forest-Virginia semifinal.
• Stanford’s Tanner Beason (first team) and Andrew Thomas (third team) were named All-Americans. BRADLEY SIGNS NEW DEAL WITH TORONTO FC » Midfielder Michael Bradley has signed a new deal with Toronto FC, the Major League
Soccer side announced, extending the team captain’s six-season reign.
Bradley helped Toronto become the first Canadian side to clinch the MLS Cup in 2017 with victory over the Seattle Sounders. Bradley led the team to the MLS final again lastmonth, where it lost to Seattle.