BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Dec. 11, 2024)—–The Southeastern Conference unveiled its football postseason individual awards Wednesday as selected by the league’s 16 head coaches.
Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson was named SEC Offensive Player of the Year and South Carolina’s Kyle Kennard was selected the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Kentucky’s Alex Raynor earned SEC Special Teams Player of the Year; South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Year; Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia was voted SEC Newcomer of the Year; Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr., and LSU’s Will Campbell were named winners of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy; and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea was voted SEC Coach of the Year. It was previously announced that Missouri’s Brady Cook was selected as the SEC Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Sampson broke Tennessee records for rushing yards (1,485), rushing touchdowns (22), points scored (132) and total touchdowns scored (22) this season. He has rushed for at least 100 yards 10 times this season and enters the College Football Playoff as the SEC leader in rushing yards per game (123.8).
Kennard registered 15.5 tackles for loss in the regular season, including 11.5 sacks. Both marks led the SEC, and his sack total ranked sixth in the nation. Earlier this week, Kennard was named winner of the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which honors the nation’s top defensive player.
Raynor was successful on his first 15 field goal attempts of the season and finished 15-of-16 and broke his own school record for best field goal percentage in a season (93.8). He was named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, presented to college football’s top kicker.
Sellers helped guide the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record in the regular season with 2,274 passing yards and 17 passing touchdowns. He added 655 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. Sellers earned SEC weekly honors four times this season, most recently following the win over Clemson.
Pavia threw for 2,133 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first season in the SEC and helped lead the Commodores to a bowl berth. He also rushed for 716 yards and six rushing touchdowns and was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien Award.
Banks started all 12 games in the regular season, and he helped the Longhorns rank among the nation’s leaders in passing offense, passing efficiency, completion percentage, total offense and scoring offense. He was named a finalist for the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy, and the Texas unit was named one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award.
Campbell started all 12 games in the regular season and was named a finalist for the Lombardi Award and a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy. He helped the Tigers average 315 passing yards per game and 116 rushing yards per game. The LSU unit leads the SEC in sacks allowed with only 15 through 12 games.
Cook earned his bachelor’s degree from Missouri as a magna cum laude graduate in December 2022 and is pursuing a Master’s of Business Administration. He was named a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football’s premier scholar-athlete award, and he is a four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Lea led Vanderbilt to six wins and a bowl berth for the first time since 2018. Vanderbilt will face Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27.
The SEC All-Freshman Team will be announced Thursday.
2024 SEC Football Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Dylan Sampson, Tennessee
Defensive Player of the Year
Kyle Kennard, South Carolina
Special Teams Player of the Year
Alex Raynor, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year
LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Newcomer of the Year
Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
Jacobs Blocking Trophy
Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas
Will Campbell, LSU
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Brady Cook, Missouri
Coach of the Year
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
