Jim Thorpe Award

For the National Football League most valuable player award, see Jim Thorpe Trophy.

The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom and was named the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award.^[1]

Jim Thorpe Award

Awarded for	The top defensive back in college football
Country	United States
Presented by	Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame
History
First award	1986
Most recent	Trey Taylor, Air Force (2023)
Website	http://www.oksportshof.org

Winners

Year	Player	School	Ref
1986	Thomas Everett	Baylor	^[2]
1987 (tie)	Bennie Blades	Miami (FL)	^[3]
	Rickey Dixon	Oklahoma
1988	Deion Sanders	Florida State	^[4]
1989	Mark Carrier	USC	^[5]
1990	Darryll Lewis	Arizona	^[6]
1991	Terrell Buckley	Florida State (2)	^[7]
1992	Deon Figures	Colorado	^[8]
1993	Antonio Langham	Alabama	^[9]
1994	Chris Hudson	Colorado (2)	^[10]
1995	Greg Myers	Colorado State	^[11]
1996 †	Lawrence Wright	Florida	^[12]
1997	Charles Woodson	Michigan	^[13]
1998	Antoine Winfield	Ohio State	^[14]
1999	Tyrone Carter	Minnesota	^[15]
2000	Jamar Fletcher	Wisconsin	^[16]
2001	Roy Williams	Oklahoma (2)	^[17]
2002	Terence Newman	Kansas State	^[18]
2003	Derrick Strait	Oklahoma (3)	^[19]
2004	Carlos Rogers	Auburn	^[9]
2005	Michael Huff	Texas	^[20]
2006	Aaron Ross	Texas (2)	^[21]
2007	Antoine Cason	Arizona (2)	^[22]
2008	Malcolm Jenkins	Ohio State (2)	^[23]
2009	Eric Berry	Tennessee	^[9]
2010	Patrick Peterson	LSU	^[24]
2011	Morris Claiborne	LSU (2)	^[9]
2012	Johnthan Banks	Mississippi State	^[9]
2013	Darqueze Dennard	Michigan State	^[25]
2014	Gerod Holliman	Louisville	^[26]
2015	Desmond King	Iowa	^[27]
2016	Adoree' Jackson	USC (2)	^[28]
2017	Minkah Fitzpatrick	Alabama (2)	^[29]
2018	Deandre Baker	Georgia	^[30]
2019	Grant Delpit	LSU (3)	^[31]
2020	Trevon Moehrig	TCU	^[32]
2021	Coby Bryant	Cincinnati	^[33]
2022	Tre Tomlinson	TCU (2)	^[34]
2023	Trey Taylor	Air Force	^[35]

† In 1996, finalist Chris Canty of Kansas State University withdrew his name from consideration, which caused a re-vote.^[36]

References

General

• . Sports Reference. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2017.

Footnotes

1. "Awards - Paycom Jim Thorpe Award".
2. Werner, John (2015-10-04). "SWC legend, Baylor DB Thomas Everett won 1st-ever Jim Thorpe Award - WacoTrib.com: Baylor Bears Football". WacoTrib.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
3. Miller, Susan (2015-09-24). "UM coach Randy Ableman among those to be inducted into Florida Sports Hall of Fame". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
4. "Sanders wins Jim Thorpe Award". The Evening News. Associated Press. January 11, 1989. p. 2B. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
5. "USC's Adoree' Jackson wins Jim Thorpe Award as nation's top DB". 2016-12-08.
6. Gimino, Anthony (2013-08-25). "No. 8: Defensive back Darryll Lewis, 1987-90". Archive.azcentral.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
7. "Florida State tight end Nick O'Leary receives John Mackey Award". Jacksonville.com. 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
8. "Deon Figures, Bob Beattie among CU Buffs' new Hall of Famers". The Denver Post. 2014-06-19. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
9. "SEC Football by the Numbers: Awards season". AL.com. 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
10. "SPORTS PEOPLE - COLLEGE FOOTBALL - Two Awards for Penn State Quarterback". The New York Times. 1994-12-09. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
11. Moss, Irv (2012-04-17). "Colorado Classics: One-time football star Greg Myers now an anesthesiologist and professor – The Denver Post". Denverpost.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
12. "Wright Captures Thorpe - tribunedigital-orlandosentinel". Articles.orlandosentinel.com. 1996-12-13. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
13. "Three Wolverines named finalists for college football awards". Freep.com. 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
14. "Inch for inch, Winfield the best cornerback". StarTribune.com. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
15. "Player's brother gets extra jail time for watching Super Bowl - NFL". ESPN. 2006-07-31. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
16. "USA TODAY Latest news". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. 2000-12-30. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
17. "OU Sports Extra - Sooners defensive back Zack Sanchez planted on Jim Thorpe Award watch list". Tulsaworld.com. 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
18. "Kansas State's Malone named semifinalist for Thorpe Award". Stjosephpost.com. 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
19. "OU's Derrick Strait wins Jim Thorpe award - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |". NewsOn6.com. 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
20. Howe, Jeff (2016-12-08). "Former Thorpe Award winner Huff a member of Herman's Texas staff". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
21. "Who should win the Jim Thorpe Award? - SportsNation". ESPN. 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
22. Gimino, Anthony (2013-03-15). "Ex-Arizona Wildcat star Antoine Cason to join the Arizona Cardinals - AG's Wildcat Report". Tucsoncitizen.com. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
23. Fong, Marvin (2008-12-17). "OSU's Jenkins often overlooked, but he's a worthy recipient of Thorpe honor". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
24. "LSU's Patrick Peterson wins Chuck Bednarik, Jim Thorpe awards". The Times-Picayune. December 9, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
25. "Michigan State's Darqueze Dennard wins Jim Thorpe award, named Walter Camp All-American". MLive.com. 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
26. "Louisville's Gerod Holliman wins Jim Thorpe Award". USA Today. Associated Press. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
27. "Iowa's Desmond King wins Jim Thorpe Award". USA Today. Associated Press. 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
28. "USC's Adoree' Jackson wins 2016 Thorpe Award | The Draft Wire". USA Today. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
29. "Alabama's Fitzpatrick wins 2nd ever Thorpe Award for Alabama | Bamaonline". bamaonline.com. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
30. "Georgia's Deandre Baker Wins 2018 Jim Thorpe Award as College Football's Best DB". Bleacher Report.
31. Pickman, Ben (December 12, 2019). "College Football Awards: Full List of Winners, Results". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
32. Bonagura, Kevin (January 8, 2021). "Bama players take home several major awards". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
33. "Cincinnati Bearcats defensive back Coby Bryant makes history by winning Jim Thorpe Award". Cincinnati.com. December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
34. "TCU's Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson Named 2022 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award Winner" (Press release). 9 December 2022.
35. "Trey Taylor wins 2023 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award". themw.com. Mountain West Conference. December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
36. "Canty apologizes, withdraws from awards consideration". Apnewsarchive.com. 1996-12-10. from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved 2016-12-13.

External links

• Official website