Miami Hurricanes Football Hands Out 23 Awards

The Miami Hurricanes Football held their annual Football Awards Show on Sunday night at the Maurice Gusman Concert Hall on campus on Sunday night.

Twenty-three awards were handed out, and the show began with the top ten plays of the year. The emcee was Hurricanes radio analyst Don Bailey Jr. The awards winners were selected by the Hurricanes coaching staff.

The awards show was preceded with a pseudo red carpet walk complete with the U Cheerleaders on either side of the players and staff walking in.

Mark Walton was the only player with more than one play in the top ten. His 80 yard run on the Hurricanes first play from scrimmage at Appalachian State was eighth and his 55 yard touchdown run against Pittsburgh was voted the Hurricanes top play of the season.

Most of the Awards are named after someone. Walton named given the Jack Harding Most Valuable Player Award. He finished the season with 1,065 rushing and 15 touchdowns. Walton’s 1,000 yard season was the tenth in Miami history.

Harding coached the Hurricanes to a 54-32-3 record for nine seasons during two separate stints as Head Coach in the 1930’s and 1940’s. His 1945 team finished 9-1-1. That included a 13-6 Orange Bowl won over Holy Cross. That was the Hurricanes first Orange Bowl win.

Brad Kaaya somehow earned the Offensive Player of the Year Award, with Walton capturing the team MVP. Kaaya finished the season with 3,250 yards 23 touchdowns and seven interception. His yards and 3.28 to one touchdown to interception ratio are career highs.

Corn Elder earned the Defensive Player of the Year. He led the team with 12 pass break ups, had 69 tackles, 49 solo tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and one interception. Elder was selected first team All-ACC by the Coaches.

Justin Vogel was named All-ACC by the media and the coaches. He was named the ‘Canes special teams Player of the Year Sunday. Vogel averaged 44.2 yards per punt, had 23 punts inside the 20, 16 over 50 yards and forced 28 fair catches.

The rest of the list is below:

2016 Miami Hurricane Award Winners
Hard Hitter Award: Jamal Carter and Marquez Williams
Kelly UTough Award: Kendrick Norton and Mark Walton
The Mariutto Family Scholar Athlete Award: Braxton Berrios
Community Service Man of the Year Award: Demetrius Jackson
Strength Training Athlete of the Year: Malcolm Lewis and Zach McCloud
Albert Bentley Most Valuable Walk-On Award: Jordan Butler and Malik Mayweather
Nick Chickillo Most Improved Player: Rayshawn Jenkins, David Njoku and Michael Smith
Walt Kichefski Hurricane Award: Shaquille Quarterman
U of Miami Sports Hall of Fame Unsung Hero Award: R.J. McIntosh Jr., Chris Herndon IV and Braxton Berrios

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2016 Miami Hurricanes Top 10 Plays
10. Michael Jackson recovers a fumble in the endzone at Notre Dame to give Miami a 27-20 lead over the Irish/Michael Badgley connects on a season-long 51-yard field against Florida State.
9. Kendrick Norton forces a fumble against Pittsburgh, which sets up a touchdown.
8. Mark Walton dashes 80 yards to the endzone on the first play of the game at Appalachian State.
7. Corn Elder sacks Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert to stop the Cavaliers first drive of the second half.
6. Ahmmon Richards hauls in a 77-yard pass from Brad Kaaya to give the Hurricanes a 27-14 lead at Virginia.
5. Joe Jackson recovers a fumble and rumbles 18 yards to the endzone to give Miami a 28-7 lead at Georgia Tech.
4. Stacy Coley tiptoes his way into the endzone to give the Hurricanes a 10-0 lead at FSU.