Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
Handicapping a race is difficult without knowing the competitors.
Now we know the three finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award this season—Mansoor Delane, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs and Notre Dame’s Leonard Moore.
So, let’s handicap the race.
It starts with statistics. Anyone with a vote can quite easily look at numbers on a stats sheet. We can, too.
Delane
- 10 games, 41 tackles, 2 interceptions, 10 pass break ups, 1 quarterback hurry
Downs
- 11 games, 49 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 pass break up, 1 quarterback hurry, 1 sack, 5 tackles for loss
Moore
- 9 games, 26 tackles, 4 interceptions, 4 pass break ups, 1 forced fumble
Delane has been stickier in coverage (more on that coming). Moore has produced more turnovers. Downs plays a different position. He’s made more tackles, though just slightly over Delane considering the extra game, and doesn’t have as many pass break ups.
This part of the equation is fairly similar. They’re all great players who have made big plays. Delane’s have come with breaking up passes. Downs makes more stops. Moore has the picks.
To dive a little bit deeper, let’s use Pro Football Focus’s metrics.
Delane
- 90.9 defensive grade
Downs
- 84.8 defensive grade
Moore
- 90.9 defensive grade.
These are elite, elite grades, as you would expect. Grades in the 90s are exceedingly rare game-to-game, and these guys are bumping up against or in the 90s for the season. That’s a credit to the committee who named the finalists.
A further look at PFF’s grading:
Delane
- 91.7 coverage grade, 13/34 (38%) against, 147 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 penalties.
Downs
- 88.5 coverage grade, 22/32 (69%) against, 134 yards, 0 touchdowns, 81.5 tackling grade
Moore
- 91.4 coverage grade, 24/41 (59%), 192 yards, 2 touchdowns, 4 penalties
Keep in mind, Delane and Moore spend more time purely in coverage than Downs. He’s in the box some and helps Ohio State against the run. Delane and Moore are better in coverage, and Delane is pretty clearly the best cover man in the sport. He’s been thrown at 34 times and allowed just two first downs. He also hasn’t been flagged.
And then there’s the other stuff:
These awards can be a popularity contest. Downs was famous as a recruit. He was famous as a freshman starter at Alabama in 2023. He was the best player on a national title defense last year, and his team is unbeaten this year. He’s the “biggest name” defensive back in the country.
Moore’s Irish are also inching toward a College Football Playoff berth, and he was a starter there as a freshman on last year’s national runner up squad.
Delane hasn’t played in a meaningful game in a month and may miss the final two games of the season. None of that helps at all.
Closing Thoughts
This feels like Downs’s award to lose. Certainly, being a first round cornerback at LSU will get Delane some looks, and if the voters look at the coverage stats closely, Delane has a chance.
Ultimately, I think he will be the runner up here in his final college season. Delane gets a great year from LSU, and Corey Raymond can add his name to the wall as another first round product from LSU under his tutelage. It’s a win-win. Perhaps there’s one more win. We’ll wait until December 12 to find out.
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