Purdue Receiver Charlie Jones Added to Biletnikoff Award Watch List

Through five games this season, Purdue's Charlie Jones is third in the nation with 588 receiving yards and second with seven touchdowns catches. The sixth-year senior wide receiver transferred from Iowa in the offseason.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — As one of the nation's leading receivers so far this season, Purdue wide receiver Charlie Jones was added to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List. The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation announced additions to the watch list for the award given to college football's best receiver, regardless of position.

National Rankings
2nd - Receptions/game (9.4)
2nd - Receiving TDs (7)
3rd - Receiving Yds (588)

Sizzlin' onto the @biletnikoffawrd Watch List. pic.twitter.com/5yOVQzrZCt

— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) October 5, 2022

Since transferring from Iowa this offseason, the sixth-year senior receiver ranks second in the country with 9.4 receptions per game and seven touchdown catches on the season. Jones is also third in the nation with 588 receiving yards through five games. 

He leads the Big Ten Conference in all three categories. Jones is the only league receiver to have 45 or more catches in the first five games of the year. 

The Boilermakers have churned out several talented wide receivers in recent memory. Taylor Stubblefield earned the Biletnikoff Award back in 2004, and David Bell was a finalist last season. Both players finished as consensus All-Americans at their position.

However, Jones joined Stubblefield as the only other Big Ten receiver to register seven touchdown receptions in the five weeks of the season. 

Last year with the Hawkeyes, Jones had just 21 catches for 323 yards and three touchdowns. He needed just three games to surpass those marks. In his debut showing in the Purdue offense, he snatched 12 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown against Penn State in the team's season opener. 

Jones followed up by hauling in nine passes for 133 yards and a trio of touchdowns in just one half of play against Indiana State. Against Syracuse the following week, he went for a career-high 188 yards and brought one pass for a score, becoming the eighth player in program history to record three straight 100-yard receiving games. 

The semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award will be announced on Nov. 21, with three finalists selected one week later. The winner of the award will be announced Thursday, Dec. 8, on ESPN as part of The Home Depot College Football Awards Show.

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