CLARKSDALE, Miss. – Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram won the C Spire Conerly Trophy award on Tuesday night as the Magnolia state’s most outstanding college football player in 2016.
A senior from Powder Springs, Georgia, Engram is one of the top tight ends in the nation and the best in school history, according to Ole Miss Athletics.
He joins five other Ole Miss Rebels as former winners of the coveted award – quarterback Stewart Patridge (1997), running back Deuce McAllister (1999), quarterback Eli Manning (2001 and 2003), linebacker Patrick Willis (2006) and quarterback Bo Wallace (2012).
Engram received the trophy during a special awards program Tuesday night in Clarksdale at the Clarksdale Country Club.
He beat out nine other finalists, representing each of the 10 football-playing universities and colleges in the state. The other finalists were Alcorn State LB Darien Anderson, Belhaven QB Hunter McEachern, Delta State RB Chris Robinson, Jackson State DE/LB Javancy Jones, Millsaps DL Alex Foust, Mississippi College WR/KR Marcel Newson, Mississippi State WR Fred Ross, Mississippi Valley State QB Austin Bray and Southern Miss RB Ito Smith.
Engram, who started all 11 games as a team captain before missing the Egg Bowl with a hamstring injury, is the nation’s leading tight end with 5.9 catches per game and 84.2 receiving yards per game.
He ranks top three among all Southeastern Conference players of any position in both catches and yards per game. His eight touchdowns are tied for second nationally among tight ends.
Engram holds Ole Miss records for most catches, yards and touchdowns in a season and a career by a tight end. He is the nation’s active leader among tight ends with 2,320 career receiving yards. In 2016, he racked up 65 catches for 926 yards and eight TDs.
Now in its 21st year, the Conerly Trophy presented by C Spire Wireless is named after the late Charlie Conerly – the only football inductee in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame who was an All-American at a Mississippi university, an NFL rookie of the year and NFL All-Pro member and quarterbacked a team to a world championship.
