Idaho QB wins Jerry Rice Award — McCoy named top freshman in FCS
From news services
High expectations are for programs that have made the playoffs, not for teams with five consecutive losing seasons and a first-year head coach.
High expectations are also not for redshirt freshmen quarterbacks that went 15 for 32 for 205 yards, four interceptions and just one TD while playing in three games as true freshmen.
Outside of the Kibbie Dome offices, very few people had any expectations for the Idaho football team and Gevani McCoy. But who needs expectations?
Idaho's players and coaches placed their faith in McCoy and rode his breakout season under first-year head coach Jason Eck to a winning record for the first time since 2016 and an FCS playoff appearance for the first time since 1995.
To recognize McCoy for the outstanding season, Stats Perform announced Wednesday that McCoy is the winner of the 2022 Jerry Rice Award for the top freshman in the FCS.
“This award means so much,” said McCoy, who received just one scholarship offer out of high school — from the previous coaching staff at Idaho, headed by Paul Petrino. “This is the one scholarship offer that I had, so I had to take it, and I’m so thankful for that one offer because that’s all I needed.”
“He just kept getting better and better every week,” Eck said. “You can’t say enough about the year he had as a freshman, and we’re excited about the future.”
Under Eck and offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner's guidance, McCoy threw for 2,791 yards and 27 touchdowns with just seven interceptions in 11 games (he missed one game due to injury). He also ran for 89 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 14-yard touchdown on the throwback pass.
Idaho finished 7-5 this season, including 7-3 against FCS teams, and a 6-2 Big Sky Conference record.
“When we first got here, he was far from the frontrunner for the job,” Eck said. “He played a little bit as a freshman … didn’t play really well, on tape. And he’s very light. And that’s still something I want to see some improvement on, gaining some muscle mass in the offseason.
“When we got to spring practice he showed some things that caught my eye — ‘this guy’s got a chance.’ And by the end of spring ball, he had a slight lead, but we weren’t playing at what I thought was a championship level, well enough to win the conference. Then we got to camp and one of our freshmen (Jack Layne) was doing a good job, so it became a four-man race. Gevani was very consistent, did a good job protecting the football, did a good job limiting his turnovers, made some great decisions, was very accurate, did a great job extending plays.”
Idaho named him the starter internally about two weeks before the season opener, but word didn’t leak out to the public until the day of the WSU game.
McCoy not only won the Rice Award but ran away with the voting among the 25 finalists for the award.
A 54-member panel voted on the 12th annual award – named after legendary wide receiver Jerry Rice, who starred at Mississippi Valley State as part of his Hall of Fame career – with UAlbany quarterback Reese Poffenbarger finishing second and Saint Francis wide receiver Makai Jackson third. McCoy will be honored at the FCS National Awards banquet on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.
McCoy picked up 31 first-place votes to just nine for Poffenbarger. McCoy's vote totaled 203 points to 118 for Poffenbarger and 105 for Jackson.
UC Davis defensive back Rex Connors finished fourth. Montana punter Patrick Rohrbach tied for ninth.
The Jerry Rice Award, first presented after the 2011 season, has a distinguished list of past recipients, including current NFL players Cooper Kupp, Chase Edmonds and Trey Lance.
Also at the national banquet, Stats Perform will present the Walter Payton Award (FCS offensive player of the year), Buck Buchanan Award (FCS defensive player of the year) and Eddie Robinson Award (FCS coach of the year), and FedEx Ground will present the Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
McCoy entered the season as the starter after a close competition in the fall, beating out sophomore CJ Jordan and South Dakota State transfer J'Bore Gibbs. Following the season, Jordan entered the transfer portal.
“They weren’t my best games, but it was a start,” McCoy said of his experience last year.
This year, “I just kept my head down and grinded, all through spring ball and summer, and came out on top. This whole season has been just a ride, for sure … it was just a great season.”
McCoy was named the starter ahead of the Vandal season opener against Washington State. Idaho lost close games against two power-five opponents, McCoy was 21 of 32 for 212 yards and a touchdown at WSU and 12 of 23 for 204 yards and three touchdowns against Indiana.
He next led the Vandals to five consecutive wins for the first time since 2016, including road victories over Northern Arizona and a win over Montana for the first time since 1999.
He threw for at least one touchdown in every game that he played and tallied four touchdowns against Northern Colorado, Portland State and Eastern Washington.
He broke the Idaho single-season completion percentage record by going 203 of 297 (68.4%) and set the single-game record for completion percentage in the win against NAU going 18 of 20 (90%).
He was second all-time for single season pass efficiency in Vandal history at 170.6.
“To think back to this time last year, I didn’t know what to expect … it’s been such a great ride,” McCoy said. “This coaching staff has just come in and changed the whole culture; they’ve had a big impact on our team.”
Next season, Idaho returns McCoy and a load of offensive talent, including first team All-Big Sky receivers Jermaine Jackson and Hayden Hatten and second team All-Big Sky running back and true freshman Anthony Woods.
“I’m so excited for our future. I just can’t wait to get back to work,” McCoy said. “Our mindset going forward is to get better every single day, and fix all the stuff we didn’t do as well this past year, and be a much better team than we were last year. Our seniors laid the foundation, and we owe it to them to reach our full potential.”
