Yellow Jacked Up
Fansided

Georgia Tech Football: KirVonte Benson and TaQuon Marshall named to Maxwell Award Watch List

By Lee Cagle

ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 11: TaQuon Marshall
ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 11: TaQuon Marshall /
facebooktwitterreddit

Georgia Tech football’s TaQuon Marshall and KirVonte Benson were named to the Maxwell Award watchlist for the 2018 season on Monday.

The two leading rushers from the 2017 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets season were named to the Maxwell Award Watchlist for the 2018 season. TaQuon Marshall and KirVonte Benson were both named to the list following their break out 2017 seasons on Monday morning.

The Maxwell Award is awarded to College Football’s player of the year and will be presented for the 82nd time this season.

The semifinalists will be announced on Oct. 29 and top three finalists will be announced on Nov. 19th. With the award being present in Atlantic City on March 8, 2019. The winner will be announced as part of the Home Depot College Awards show on Dec. 6th.

For TaQuon Marshall, 2018 will be the second time that he has been nominated for the award. In 2017 Marshall rushed for 1146 yards and 17 touchdowns on 247 attempts, which works out to 4.6 yards per attempt with a long of 78 yards.Marshall also passed for 927 yards on 116 attempts and 43 completions. He scored 10 touchdowns through the air with a longest completion of 80 yards.

KirVonte Benson is on the list for the first time in 2018 following his breakout season in 2017 as the lead B-back in Paul Johnson’s offense. Benson rushed for 1053 yards on 204 attempts scoring 6 touchdowns. He ran for around 5.2 yards per attempt with a long of 65 yards. Benson had a breakout season in 2017 and will look to build on that success in the 2018 season.

Both Benson and Marshall became the first pair of Yellow Jackets to rush for 100 yards in four games in a single season, and the second pair to record 1000-yard seasons. They will both have their first opportunities to make their case in Bobby Dodd Stadium on Sept. 1st vs Alcorn State.

Next: Georgia Tech Football 2018 Player Previews: #6 DB Lamont Simmons

Another Yellow Jacket on the Maxwell Award watch list was Dedrick Mills who was named to the list before the 2017 season. Mills was dismissed from the team before the start of the 2017 season after a violation of athletic department rules.