Indiana WR Nick Westbrook is on The Biletnikoff Award Watch List

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Indiana Athletics Release

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For the second consecutive year, Indiana redshirt junior wide receiver Nick Westbrook earned a spot on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc., announced today. The award annually recognizes the outstanding FBS receiver in college football.
 
Westbrook will return to the field in 2018 after he suffered a season-ending ACL injury on the first play of the 2017 campaign. A 2016 honorable mention All-Big Ten selection, he caught 54 passes for 995 yards (18.4 average) and six touchdowns. Westbrook led the team in yardage, TDs and yards per reception.
 
The Lake Mary, Fla., native ranked second in the Big Ten in yardage (38th nationally), third in average per catch (T-27th nationally), seventh in receptions and tied for seventh in scores. Westbrook's 995 yards rank seventh on IU's single-season list.
 
An Academic All-Big Ten honoree and business marketing major, he led the conference in 40-plus yard receptions (7, T-15th nationally), shared first in 70-yarders (2, T-8th), finished second in 30-yarders (11, T-19th), shared second in 60-yarders (2, T-24th) and 10-yarders (37), and shared third in 50-yarders (3, T-29th) and 20-yarders (16, T-35th). Westbrook posted three 100-yard games, which shared third in the B1G.
 
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 
 
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 Dec. 6, 2018, on The Home Depot College Football Awards presented by Gildan to be broadcast 7-9 p.m. 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, Feb. 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 banquet has featured distinguished keynoters of profound character and accomplishments including Bart Starr, Dick Vermeil, Floyd Little, Larry Csonka, Steve Largent, Mike Ditka, Don Shula, Dan Reeves, Archie Manning, Ron Jaworski, Gene Stallings, Bob Griese, Bill Curry, Bobby Bowden, Jim Kelly, Jerry Kramer, Joe Theismann and Dan Fouts.
 
The banquet also recognizes the Foundation's scholarship recipients who will be offered by the Foundation over $800,000 in college and vocational scholarships and related benefits in 2019 alone, as in 2017 and 2018.
 
The Foundation's charitable mission is the provision of college and vocational scholarships and related assistance to North Florida high school seniors who have overcome significant barriers to achieve at the highest academic and extra-curricular levels.
 
The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc., will announce the ten Biletnikoff Award semifinalists on Nov. 12, 2018, following the vote by the distinguished members of the Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee. Likewise, the three finalists will be declared, following another vote, on Nov. 20, 2018. For complete details and updates of interest, together with weekly statistics and timely, important news of the Biletnikoff Award candidates, as well as a fan vote and discussion board, please consult the Foundation's highly informative website at BiletnikoffAward.com.
 
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. 
 
Tickets for the Hoosiers seven 2018 home games are available by clicking here, by phone at 1-866-IUSPORTS or in person at the Assembly Hall Ticket Office. Indiana will welcome Virginia (Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET), Ball State (Sept. 15 at noon ET), Michigan State (Sept. 22), Iowa (Oct. 13 – Homecoming at noon ET), Penn State (Oct. 20), Maryland (Nov. 10) and Purdue (Nov. 24).