No Purdue Player Named to Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List, First Time Since 2018
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The 2022 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List was officially announced on Thursday, and for the first time since 2018 it did not include a Purdue player.
The Biletnikoff Award released the preseason watch list today. See our media release here: https://t.co/sTMrUd5swY pic.twitter.com/SWUszWrQvg
— Biletnikoff Award (@biletnikoffawrd) July 21, 2022
The Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the nation's most outstanding receiver, regardless of position. Last season, University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison was the recipient of the award.
Ahead of 2018, Boilermakers head coach Jeff Brohm was entering his third year with the football program, and the team was coming off a 7-6 season that ended in a 38-35 victory over Arizona in the Foster Farms Bowl.
Incoming four-star wide receiver Rondale Moore out of Louisville, Kentucky, was in for a big role in Purdue's high-powered offense during his first year of collegiate football. And it took just one season for Moore to make a name for himself with the Boilermakers.
He was added to the 2018 Biletnikoff Award Watch List on Sept. 25 of that year, and he finished as a semifinalist for the award in his freshman after recording 114 catches for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Moore was the Paul Hornung Award recipient as the nation’s most versatile player, the first true freshman consensus All-American in Big Ten history, the Richter-Howard Big Ten Receiver of the Year and finished as just the third player in conference history to catch 100 or more passes in a single season.
His performance as a freshman was more than enough to be recognized on the 2019 Biletnikoff Award Watch List during the preseason. But Moore would eventually share the spotlight at wide receiver as a sophomore.
For the second straight season, Purdue had a breakout player at the receiver position. This time, it was four-star Warren Central High School standout David Bell. In his first season with the team, he tied the Big Ten lead with 86 receptions and went for 1,035 yards and seven touchdowns.
Bell was added to the 2019 Biletnikoff Award Watch List on Oct. 23. he ended the year as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, a first-team Associated Press Freshman All-American and an All-Big Ten honorable mention.
Moore only appeared in four games for the Boilermakers during the 2019 season, but he still accounted for 29 receptions, 387 yards and two touchdowns. Both he and Bell were named to the 2020 Biletnikoff Award Watch List during the preseason.
The 2020 campaign for Purdue only consisted of six games as the nation was finding ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Bell continued his momentum from the previous year, catching 53 passes for 625 yards and eight touchdowns. He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection as a sophomore.
Moore, on the other hand, continued to struggle with injuries and only played in three contests. He was credited with 35 receptions for 270 yards in his final season with the Boilermakers before being selected in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals.
Entering the 2021 season of college football, Bell was the undisputed No. 1 on the perimeter for Purdue, and he was recognized as a member of the Biletnikoff Award Watch List during the preseason for the second year in a row.
Bell, a junior last season, went on to have one of the most prolific seasons for a wide receiver in program history. He finished the year with 93 catches for 1,286 yards and six touchdowns. He surpassed Moore for the second-most receiving yards by a Boilermaker in a single season, trailing only John Standeford.
By the end of the year, Bell was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten selection, the Richter-Howard Big Ten Reciever of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American. After opting out of the team's matchup with Tennessee in the Music City Bowl, he was taken in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
As Brohm and the Purdue football program prepare for the upcoming 2022 college football season, senior Broc Thompson appears to be the top option at wide receiver for returning starting quarterback Aidan O'Connell.
Thompson posted just 30 receptions for 457 yards and four touchdowns last year but managed to grab seven passes in the season finale — a 48-45 overtime victory over the Volunteers with Bell and fellow receiver Milton Wright out of the lineup.
The transfer from Marshall racked up 217 yards and scored two touchdowns en route to being named the 2021 TransPerfect Music City Bowl's Most Valuable Player. However, despite a strong conclusion to his season, he was not named to this year's Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List, ending the streak that began back in 2019.
Receivers are added to the watch list depending on their season performances, and Purdue has ranked either first or second in the Big Ten in total passing yards per game during each of the last four seasons under Brohm.
Here's the full list of players who were named to the 2022 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List:
- Jordan Addison, Wide Receiver, USC
- Hassan Beydoun, Wide Receiver, Eastern Michigan
- Jake Bobo, Wide Receiver, UCLA
- Kayshon Boutte, Wide Receiver, LSU
- Brock Bowers, Tight End, Georgia
- Roderic Burns, Wide Receiver, North Texas
- Jermaine Burton, Wide Receiver, Alabama
- Dante Cephas, Wide Receiver, Kent State
- Tyrese Chambers, Wide Reciever, FIU
- Jacob Cowing, Wide Receiver, Arizona
- Jalen Cropper, Wide Receiver, Fresno State
- Daewood Davis, Wide Receiver, WKU
- Nathaniel Dell, Wide Receiver, Houston
- Josh Downs, Wide Receiver, North Carolina
- Grant DuBose, Wide Receiver, Charlotte
- Zay Flowers, Wide Receiver, Boston College
- Zakhari Franklin, Wide Receiver, UTSA
- Corey Gammage, Wide Receiver, Marshall
- Re'Vailance Hunt, Wide Receiver, Arkansas State
- Xavier Hutchinson, Wide Receiver, Iowa State
- Jayshon Jackson, Wide Receiver, Ball State
- Rakim Jarrett, Wide Receiver, Maryland
- Ali Jennings III, Wide Receiver, Old Dominion
- Quentin Johnston, Wide Receiver, TCU
- Nick Mardner, Wide Receiver, Cincinnati
- Michael Mayer, Tight End, Notre Dame
- Marvin Mims, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma
- Puka Nacua, Wide Receiver, BYU
- Isaiah Neyor, Wide Receiver, Texas
- Ryan O'Keefe, Wide Receiver, UCF
- A.T. Perry, Wide Receiver, UCF
- Jayden Reed, Wide Receiver, Michigan State
- Corey Rucker, Wide Receiver, South Carolina
- Trayvon Rudolph, Wide Receiver, NIU
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Wide Receiver, Ohio State
- Keytaon Thompson, Wide Receiver, Virginia
- Cedric Tillman, Wide Receiver, Tennessee
- Mitchell Tinsley, Wide Receiver, Penn State
- Parker Washington, Wide Receiver, Penn State
- Xavier Weaver, Wide Receiver, USF
- Dontayvion Wicks, Wide Receiver, Virginia
- Quian Williams, Wide Receiver, Buffalo
- Xavier Worthy, Wide Receiver, Texas
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.