Crum Earns Spot on Maxwell Award Watch List
7/24/2020 11:04:00 AM | Football
KENT, OHIO- Kent State senior quarterback Dustin Crum has been named to the 2020 Maxwell Award watch list as announced by the Maxwell Football Club.
The Maxwell Award has been given to the "College Football Player of the Year" since 1937. The Award is named for Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, a standout a Swarthmore College and later a sportswriter and football official.
Crum is one of five Mid-American Conference (MAC) representatives on the list joining running backs Caleb Huntley (Ball State), Bryant Kobak (Toledo) and Jarret Patterson (Buffalo) as well as wide receiver Kalil Pimpleton (Central Michigan).
The senior signal caller burst on to the scene in 2019, earning the starting job in week two and never looking back. Crum went onto lead the MAC in passing in conference games, averaging over 240 yards per contest. He proved to be a dual threat, averaging 60 yards per game on the ground, putting him atop the MAC in total offense at over 300 yards per game.
The Grafton, Ohio native was extremely efficient in 2019, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes and posting a 20-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. That mark was one of the best in the NCAA and his 159.7 quarterback rating was 11th in the FBS. Crum's two interceptions put him in rare company. He was the only FBS quarterback to have 20 or more TDs and two or fewer interceptions. It had only been done three previous times in the past 10 seasons: Drew Hare of NIU in 2014, Connor Shaw of South Carolina in 2013 and Chuckie Keeton of Utah State in 2013.
The well-deserved preseason accolades keep mounting for Crum. This is the third watch list for the quarterback, having earned a spot on the Davey O'Brien Award watch list and as well as being recognized for his work on the field, in the classroom and community with a spot on the Danny Wuerffel Award watch list. He also earned pre-season first-team All-MAC honors from Athlon Sports as well as Phil Steele, while ESPN has rated Crum number eight on the top returning quarterbacks in the FBS, a mark that tops all "group-of-five" schools.
The watch list will be narrowed down to a group of semi-finalists before the Maxwell voting panel announces three finalists. The winner will be announced as part of ESPN's College Football Awards show and the official presentation of the award will be at a Maxwell Award ceremony in March.
For more information and to view the entire watch list, please visit https://www.maxwellfootballclub.org/
