Gardner Tabbed to Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List

The Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc., the Florida-based creator and sponsor of the Biletnikoff Award, has released the 2018 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List, with James Gardner being one of the honorees.

The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the outstanding FBS receiver in college football. Any player, regardless of position (wide receiver, tight end, slot back, and running back) who catches a pass is eligible for the award. As such, the Biletnikoff Award recognizes college football's outstanding receiver, not merely college football's outstanding wide receiver. The award recipient is selected by the highly distinguished Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, a group of prominent college football journalists, commentators, announcers, Biletnikoff Award winners, and other former receivers. Foundation trustees do not vote and have never voted. For a list of voters, please see BiletnikoffAward.com/voters.

This is Gardner's third preseason award, most recently named to the AFCA's Good Works Team as well as Maxwell Award Preseason Watch List.

Gardner is coming off a career year, recording 47 catches for 927 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also recording five 100-yard games, earning first-team All-MAC honors. The senior opened last year with 111 yards at Marshall and followed that up with 117 yards and two scores in a win over Austin Peay. He added 115 yards and two touchdowns at Notre Dame, but shined brightest versus arch-rival Ohio, recording career-bests in catches (10), yards (166) and touchdowns (3).

Receivers are periodically added to the watch list as their season performances dictate. Actual, not potential, performance is the basis for inclusion on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.

The transparently detailed and explicit criteria for candidate eligibility, watch list inclusion, and voting appear at: BiletnikoffAward.com/criteria

The 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented live on December 6, 2018, on The Home Depot College Football Awards presented by Gildan to be broadcast 7:00 - 9:00pm (EST) on ESPN. College and pro football hall of famer Fred Biletnikoff will announce the 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner on the show.

The correlation between Biletnikoff Award winners and stardom in the National Football League is nearly uniformly consistent. Past Biletnikoff Award winners include Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper, and Larry Fitzgerald.
The 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented the Biletnikoff Award trophy by college and pro football hall of famer Fred Biletnikoff and keynoter & 1993 Lombardi Award and Jim Parker Award winner Aaron Taylor before 550 patrons at the Biletnikoff Award Banquet at the University Center Club at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, February 16, 2019. The banquet was hailed by 2014 keynote speaker Dick Vermeil, as well as by 2013 keynoter Larry Csonka, as "the best banquet in college sports."

The name Biletnikoff is synonymous with the term receiver. Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the pro and college football halls of fame, was a consensus All-America receiver at Florida State University, and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978. Fred was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.

Miami Ohio University Athletics

Gardner Tabbed to Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List

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