HOME DEPOT COLLEGE FOOTBALL AWARDS SHOW
Where: College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
When; TV: 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday on ESPN (red-carpet pre-show begins at 6 p.m. on ESPNU; "Championship Drive" College Football Playoff preview show follows at 9 p.m. on ESPN, also originating from the Hall of Fame).
Tickets: None for sale to the general public.
AWARDS FINALISTS
Finalists for nine awards that will be presented during the Home Depot College Football Awards show (all finalists are scheduled to be in attendance at the College Football Hall of Fame):
Maxwell Award (player of the year): Derrick Henry, Alabama; Christian McCaffrey, Stanford; Deshaun Watson, Clemson.
Outland Trophy (most outstanding interior lineman): Spencer Drango, Baylor; Joshua Garnett, Stanford; A'Shawn Robinson, Alabama.
Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback): Trevone Boykin, TCU; Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma; Deshaun Watson, Clemson
Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year): Tyler Matakevich, Temple; Carl Nassib, Penn State; Reggie Ragland, Alabama.
Doak Walker Award (best running back): Leonard Fournette, LSU; Derrick Henry, Alabama; Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
Biletnikoff Award (outstanding receiver): Corey Coleman, Baylor; Josh Doctson, TCU; Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss.
Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back): Jeremy Cash, Duke; Vernon Hargreaves III, Florida; Desmond King, Iowa
Lou Groza Award (top placekicker): Daniel Carlson, Auburn; Jake Elliott, Memphis; Ka'imi Fairbaim, UCLA.
Ray Guy Award (punter of the year): Michael Carrizosa, San Jose State; Tom Hackett, Utah; Hayden Hunt, Colorado State.
Note: Also recognized during the awards show will be the Home Depot coach-of-the-year (Clemson’s Dabo Swinney), the Walter Camp All-America team, the Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works team and others. Winners of several other awards will be recognized during the red-carpet ceremony, including the John Mackey Award (outstanding tight end) and Rimington Award (outstanding center).
The College Football Hall of Fame is dedicated to the great players of yesteryear. But Thursday night, the downtown Atlanta attraction will be taken over by the top players of this year.
Twenty-four stars of the 2015 season, including all three Heisman Trophy finalists, will be on hand for the 25th annual College Football Awards show, a two-hour made-for-TV event that will be televised live on ESPN starting at 7 p.m. The show moved this year to the Hall of Fame from its long-time home at Disney World.
The winners of nine major individual awards, including the Maxwell Award (player of the year), Outland Trophy (best interior lineman) and Davey O’Brien Award (best quarterback), will be presented during the show. The three finalists for each of the nine awards will be in attendance.
The Heisman Trophy won’t be awarded until Saturday night in New York, but the Heisman finalists — running backs Derrick Henry of Alabama and Christian McCaffrey of Stanford and quarterback Deshaun Watson of Clemson — will be at the Hall of Fame as finalists for two other awards each. In a possible Heisman preview, Henry, McCaffrey and Watson are the three contenders for the Maxwell Award.
Adding to the star-power, the coaches of the four teams in the College Football Playoff also are scheduled to be on hand for a pre-show news conference: Alabama’s Nick Saban, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops.
“It’s going to be an assemblage of the who’s who of college football overall,” Hall of Fame interim president John Christie said.
ESPN’s set for the show has been installed on the Hall of Fame’s 45-yard indoor playing field, which will be arranged to seat 575. Tickets aren’t available to the general public. The Hall of Fame was closed Wednesday and will be closed again Thursday to prepare for the show, which will deliver national-TV exposure for the attraction.
“We understand the significance of the promotional value of the show,” Christie said.
The show, sponsored by Atlanta-based Home Depot, will be hosted by ESPN’s Chris Fowler, who will be joined by the network’s Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Tom Rinaldi and Samantha Ponder. A red-carpet ceremony is planned outside the building and through the lobby in the hour preceding the show.
ESPN and the Hall of Fame agreed to a five-year deal to bring the show here. It was previously held at the Atlantic Dance Hall on Disney World’s BoardWalk. Interestingly, ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co.
“Disney was a terrific host … but we really needed to move some place bigger,” ESPN senior coordinating producer John Vassallo said. “A lot of people have asked me, ‘Well, hey, you were at one of the entertainment capitals of the country. You couldn’t find a different place at Disney?’ There were bigger places, but Disney is not in the business of closing attractions to do TV shows.
“Coupled with the move of the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta, being really one of the centers of the college football universe, it all sort of came together.”
He said the Hall of Fame, which opened here in August 2014, provides an ideal setting.
“You just walk through once, and you see the potential,” said Vassallo, who has worked on the show for 18 years. “The lobby area with the (wall of) helmets will be a great spot for the red carpet. Then you move into the main room with the field that I think is going to give us the kind of canvas and space that the show has needed.”
In addition to the Maxwell, Outland and O’Brien awards, the show will present the winners of the Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year), Doak Walker Award (best running back), Biletnikoff Award (outstanding receiver), Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back), Lou Groza Award (best placekicker) and Ray Guy Award (best punter).
For Christie, who has been on the Hall of Fame staff since 2010 and became interim president after John Stephenson resigned in October to accept a corporate position at Chick-fil-A, the awards show has arrived at its appropriate venue.
“Our pitch was, ‘This is where it belongs,’” Christie said. “This is the ultimate destination for a college football player.”
About the Author
