STARKVILLE – Three days after Ole Miss topped Mississippi State to win the Egg Bowl, the Rebels and Bulldogs will go head-to-head again tonight with the state’s top individual football award up for grabs.
MSU quarterback Dak Prescott and Ole Miss cornerback Senquez Golson enter tonight’s ceremony for the Conerly Trophy, given annually to the state’s top college football player, as the two heavy favorites among a field of 10 candidates.
The award, handed out annually since 1996, will be presented to the winner at a ceremony held at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson. The ceremony begins at 7 p.m.
Prescott, MSU’s nominee for the award, enters tonight’s ceremony as the leading touchdown-scorer in the Southeastern Conference. The junior from Haughton, Louisiana, set 10 individual school records this season and led the Bulldogs to the first 10-win regular season in school history. On the season, Prescott passed for 2,996 yards and 24 touchdowns while adding 939 rushing yards and 13 more scores. He also added a receiving touchdown to finish the season with 38 scores.
Prescott is also a finalist for a pair of national awards, the Maxwell Trophy, given to the country’s top offensive player, and the Davey O’Brien Award, handed to the nation’s best quarterback.
Golson, meanwhile, led the SEC in interceptions with nine, a total that ranks second nationally. A senior from Pascagoula, Golson is also a finalist for the Thorpe award, which goes to the best defensive back in the country.
At tonight’s ceremony, Golson will look to be the first Ole Miss winner since quarterback Bo Wallace in 2012.
Of the previous 18 winners, five came from MSU, including tailbacks J.J. Johnson in 1998, Jerious Norwood in 2005 and Anthony Dixon in 2009. Linebacker Chris White won the award in 2010 and offensive lineman Gabe Jackson, now with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL, claimed last year’s prize. Six Ole Miss players have won the award while four winners have come from Southern Mississippi and two from Delta State.
In addition to Prescott and Golson, the eight other candidates up for the Conerly Trophy are: Zach Bell, a defensive end from Millsaps; Alcorn State quarterback John Gibbs; Mississippi College defensive back Dylan Klibert; quarterback Greg Livingston of Belhaven; defensive end Dasman McCullum from Southern Miss; Delta State quarterback Tyler Sullivan and Daniel Williams, a wide receiver from Jackson State.
Eulls accepts invitation to Senior Bowl: The South squad’s defensive line will now have a very maroon look to it at the annual Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile after Mississippi State senior defensive tackle Kaleb Eulls accepted an invitation to play in the annual showcase on Monday.
Eulls, a senior from Yazoo City, delivered 33 total tackles and three sacks for the Bulldogs this season, and he picked up Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week honors for his five-tackle, two-sack performance in a 45-31 road win at Kentucky in late October.
Eulls will join teammate Preston Smith at the Senior Bowl, which gives college seniors a chance to perform in practice sessions and a game in front of hundreds of NFL scouts and executives.
Practices are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 20, 2015. The game is set to kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturday, January 24 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.
All of the practices and the game will be televised by NFL Network.
Follow Dispatch Sports Writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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