The University of Mississippi Athletics
Golson Named Finalist for Conerly Trophy
11/24/2014 | Football, Blog
Senior cornerback Senquez Golson, one of five finalists for the Bronco Nagurski Award, which honors the national defensive player of the year, will represent Ole Miss as one of 10 finalists for the C Spire Conerly Trophy, which honors the most outstanding college football player in Mississippi.Â
For more on the finalists and the Conerly Trophy, click here.
"It's well documented with his turnaround and buy-in percentage and doing the little things right," head coach Hugh Freeze said. "It's really pleasing when you see a kid do that and have success on the field. He's getting a lot of notoriety nationally with different types of awards that he might be up for. We're excited for him."
The Pascagoula, Mississippi, native leads the SEC and ranks second nationally with nine interceptions, one shy of tying the school single-season record. His 15 career interceptions is the most among active Division I FBS players and is tied for the fourth-most in school history.
Golson has helped Ole Miss lead the nation in scoring defense (13.5 ppg) and the fewest touchdowns allowed (16). Led by Golson, Ole Miss leads the SEC with 19 interceptions and 28 turnover forced.
His interception in the end zone with 37 seconds left sealed the win over No. 1 Alabama, and he returned one of his two interceptions against Louisiana-Lafayette for a 59-yard touchdown.
"We're ranked high in defensive categories and he's been one of the keys," Freeze said. "We've been able to feel like he could play on an island at times. He's made great plays for us, in particular the turnovers he's created. Obviously there are people up front that help us with that in the pass rush and things. He's made a lot of key plays for us through the course of our senior year."
The trophy will be awarded Dec. 2 at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. As was the case last year, fans can vote. Fan voting by C Spire will account for a weighted 10 percent of the voting with a statewide panel of media accounting for the other 90 percent.
Just as the media voters do, fans will vote for a first place, second place and third place winner. For more information, entry rules and qualification on fan voting, go to www.cspire.com/conerly beginning Tuesday, Nov. 25.
Named after former Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly, the trophy has been given every season since 1996. Past Ole Miss winners include quarterback Stewart Patridge (1997), running back Deuce McAllister (1999), quarterback Eli Manning (2001, 2003), linebacker Patrick Willis (2006) and quarterback Bo Wallace (2012).
Here are a couple of stories from earlier this season on Golson:
Buy-In paying off for Golson, writes Austin Miller of OleMissSports.com (Oct. 8)
Golson makes most of potential in final season, writes Chase Parham of RebelGrove/Rivals.com (Nov. 7)
Rebels' cornerback Golson blossom as senior after difficult journey, writes Parrish Alford of the Daily Journal (Nov. 16)
Here an infographic from last week highlighting some of Golson's accomplishments:
