The Adrian Martinez award tour continued on Thursday. Nebraska's true freshman quarterback earned Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Monday and was also named the College Football Performance Awards Co-National Performer of the Week after completing 86.2 percent of his passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns along with 125 yards rushing and a score in the Huskers' 53-28 win over Minnesota.
Martinez didn't have to share Thursday's award as he was named the Manning Award Star of the Week. The weekly honor is determined by a fan vote from a group of eight nominees selected by the Sugar Bowl. Martinez beat out David Blough (Purdue), Tyler Huntley (Utah), D’Eriq King (Houston), Gardner Minshew (Washington State), Kyler Murray (Oklahoma), Brett Rypien (Boise State) and Isaiah Sanders (Air Force) for the award this week.
The list of weekly winners is an interesting one, which I guess is always the chance you take with a Facebook vote. West Virginia quarterback and Heisman hopeful Will Grier won it in Week 1, but he's about the only one from the list of "usual suspects" you would've expected coming into the year. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hasn't won it this season, which strikes me as strange. Oklahoma's Murry was putting up better numbers than last year's Heisman (and Manning) winner Baker Mayfield early this season, but he didn't get it. Neither has UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton.
But you know who has? One-time Nebraska commit Terry Wilson. He won it in Week 2 after going 11-for-16 for 151 yards with two touchdowns and rushing for 105 yards and another touchdown in Kentucky's win over Florida. Former Kansas quarterback Ryan Willis won it in Week 5 after throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first start for Virginia Tech. Willis, from the Kansas City area, expressed interest in Nebraska as well coming out of high school.
Martinez is the first freshman to win the weekly Manning Award this season.
More Awards
In other vote-based awards news, Nebraska outside hitter Mikaele Foecke is one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award in volleyball. The award is open to seniors who "have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition."
Foecke checks all of those boxes. The two-time Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Championship also carries a 3.649 GPA with a major in animal science and is a captain for the ninth-ranked Huskers this season. The winner will be determined by a combined vote of Division I coaches, media and fans.
You can log your vote here.
The Grab Bag
- Nebraska picked up its 18th commit for the 2019 class in Washington wide receiver Darien Chase. Greg Smith offered five thoughts on the commitment here.
- Be sure not to miss Derek Peterson's excellent story from the October issue on the Oregon origins of Scott Frost's coaching philosophy.
- Nebraska basketball will start the season ranked in the Coaches Poll.
- Mike Babcock looks back at the Huskers' history against DI-AA/FCS opponents.
Today's Song of Today
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
