The UCF Knights took home some serious hardware on Wednesday.
Quarterback Blake Bortles was named the American Athletic Conference player of the year, beating out Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater who was a favorite to win the Heisman at the beginning of the season. Head Coach George O’Leary won the American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Knights to an 11-1 season and their first ever BCS bowl bid in the Fiesta Bowl.
Bortles passed for 3,280 yards this season with 22 touchdowns and completed 68.1 percent of his passes, which was the ninth best in the nation. He also showed off his mobility that has some NFL scouts calling him a top prospect, by scoring five rushing touchdowns this season.
O’Leary led the No.15 BCS ranked Knights to an undefeated season in AAC play, it was the sixth time O’Leary was named conference coach of the year in his 17 years of being a head coach.
QB Bortles, RB Storm Johnson, OL Jordan McCray, OL Justin McCray, LB Terrance Plummer and CB Jacoby Glenn were all named to the AAC first team. WR JJ Worton, OL Chris Martin, RB Will Stanback, K Shawn Moffitt and S Clayton Geathers were all named to the AAC second team.
