Two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Football Player of the Year Lamar Jackson of Louisville joins Notre Dame All-America women’s basketball standout Arike Ogunbowale as the top male and female ACC athletes for the 2017-18 academic year, as voted upon by a select media panel (96 voters).
Jackson, who earned the 65th Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the conference’s premier male athlete, won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore in 2016 and followed up last season with more eye-opening numbers as he accounted for an ACC-record 5,261 total yards with 45 touchdowns.
Ogunbowale claimed the 29th Mary Garber Award as the conference’s top female athlete after leading Notre Dame to the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship in a junior season that culminated with game-winning shots in both the national semifinal and title games.
The ACC Athlete of the Year Awards are given in memory of distinguished journalists from the region. McKevlin was a sports editor of the Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, while Garber, of the Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal, was a pioneer as one of the first female sports journalists in the nation.
Louisville’s Jackson became the first player in FBS history to rush for at least 1,500 yards and pass for at least 3,500 yards in a single season – and he did so in consecutive years. The Pompano Beach, Florida, native earned Heisman Trophy finalist status for the second consecutive season in 2017 as he rushed 1,601 yards and 18 touchdowns while throwing for 3,660 yards and 27 more TDs.
Jackson is the second player in FBS history and the first non-senior to rush for 4,000 yards and pass for 9,000 yards in his career. He is the sixth student-athlete to be named the ACC Football Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons and the first since Florida State’s Charlie Ward in 1992 and 1993.
The first quarterback in ACC history to lead the conference in rushing, Jackson average 123.2 yards per game (1,601 yards on 232 attempts). He broke the ACC career mark for most rushing yards and most touchdowns rushing by a quarterback in just three seasons. Jackson finished his career with 4,132 career rushing yards, bettering the mark of 2,806 set by Georgia Tech’s Joshua Nesbit (2007-10).
Jackson had 50 career rushing touchdowns, breaking the ACC career mark for a quarterback of 38 scores set during the 2009-12 seasons by Georgia Tech’s Tevin Washington. Jackson averaged 346.7 yards in 38 career games, which stands as the best per-game average in total offense in ACC history. The 119 total touchdowns for which Jackson accounted rank second all-time in ACC history behind former Clemson standout and two-time McKevlin Award winner Deshaun Watson.
A first-round NFL Draft choice by the Baltimore Ravens, Jackson was named on 19 McKevlin Award ballots. He prevailed in a tight vote over Georgia Tech baseball catcher Joey Bart (18) and NC State football defensive end Bradley Chubb (17).
Notre Dame’s Ogunbowale earned All-America and All-ACC honors while leading the conference in scoring at 20.8 points per game, and the Milwaukee junior will be long remembered for a pair of clutch game-winning moments at the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
With one second left in overtime versus Connecticut in the national semifinal, Ogunbowale delivered a long-range jumper that capped a 27-point scoring performance and lifted the Fighting Irish to a 91-89 win.
Two nights later, Ogunbowale nailed a 3-point buzzer beater off an inbounds play near the Notre Dame bench to lift the Irish to a 61-58 win over Mississippi State and the program’s second NCAA women’s basketball title. Ogunbowale, who scored 18 points in the championship game, was named the NCAA Women’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Her 145 points in the NCAA tournament were the fifth most all-time and the most by an Irish player, topping Ruth Riley’s 139 in 2001. Ogunbowale averaged 24.2 points per game during the tourney and 22.5 at the Final Four.
Ogunbowale led the ACC with 25 games of 20-plus points and shattered the previous single-season record at Notre Dame, surpassing Jewell Loyd’s and Katryna Gaither’s 20. The 5-8 guard was at her best against ranked teams, averaging 20.3 points in the Fighting Irish’s 16 games against such opponents.
Ogunbowale averaged a team best 6.3 points in the fourth quarter on 53.5 percent shooting from the floor, including a 43.6 percent clip from 3-point range. She reached double-digit points in the fourth quarter alone seven times, including twice in the ACC Tournament. Ogunbowale tallied 15 points combined in the fourth quarter and overtime period in the NCAA semifinal win over UConn.
Ogunbowale led the balloting for the Garber Award with 36 votes. Slugging third baseman Jessie Warren, who keyed Florida State to the 2018 NCAA women’s softball title, received 32 votes to place a close second.
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