Rondale Moore Wins Paul Hornung Award

It has been a long time since an individual Purdue player has won a national award. Cody Webster was a finalist in 2013 for the Ray Guy Award, but our last actual winner of a national award was 2004 when John Standeford won the Woody Hayes Award as a National Scholar Athlete. The other National award winners were as follows:

Travis Dorsch - 2001 Ray Guy Award

Drew Brees - 2000 Maxwell Award

Tim Stratton - 2000 John Mackey Award

Mark Herrmann - 1980 Sammy Baugh Award

Mike Phipps - 1969 Sammy Baugh Award

Bob Griese - 1966 Sammy Baugh Award

We can now add to that list as Rondale Moore was named the winner of the Paul Horning Award given to the most versatile player in college football:

Purdue true freshman standout slot receiver/return specialist Rondale Moore, who set a school record for all-purpose yards in his first college game on his way to Big Ten Receiver and Freshman of the Year honors, was named winner of the ninth annual Paul Hornung Award presented by Texas Roadhouse. The Louisville Sports Commission and Paul Hornung present the award to the most versatile player in major college football.

Moore and his family will be honored on March 7, 2019, at the annual Paul Hornung Award Banquet presented by Jewish Hospital Sports Medicine at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville.

Following his record 313-all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in the Boilermakers’ opener against Northwestern, Moore quickly became the target of opponents’ defensive game plans. Yet he went on to lead the nation with 103 catches, is fourth in the nation with 2,048 all-purpose yards and leads all Power Five receivers in yards after catch with 882. He leads the Big Ten in receiving yards (1,164), receiving touchdowns (12) and kickoff return yards (599), and recorded nine games with more than 100 all-purpose yards: Northwestern (313), Missouri (195), Boston College (151), Nebraska (163), Illinois (112), Ohio State (252), Minnesota (183), Wisconsin (174) and Indiana (154).

The award has been around since 2010 and Saquon Barkley was last season’s winner. Christian McCaffrey and Odell Beckham Jr. are also previous winners and they have had great careers in the NFL so far.

What stands out about Rondale is that he is the first freshman to win this award. The last five recipients have gone on to be top 25 picks in the NFL Draft as well.