Lamar Jackson has had a season for the ages at Louisville. The Cards’ QB assaulted the record books with 50+ total touchdowns and over 5,000 total yards.
Lamar Jackson posted video game-like numbers while engineering Louisville to national-title contention this season, but there’s one line in his bio that indicates why he is the Heisman Trophy favorite this year.
The true sophomore quarterback is the first player in FBS history with 3,300 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards in the same season.
Jackson led the Cardinals to a 9-3 record this season, compiling 4,928 total yards of offense and 51 total touchdowns en route to earning the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year award.
The 6-3, 218-pounder from Pompano Beach, Fla., is the third player in major college football history to pass for 30 touchdowns and 20 touchdowns in the same season.
His final statistical tally looks like this: 3,390 passing yards, 30 passing TDs, 1,538 rushing yards, 21 rushing TDs. The 51 combined TDs is an ACC record and he also broke the conference record for both rushing yards and rushing scores by a quarterback.
“I’m extremely humbled and honored to be a Heisman Trophy finalist,” said Jackson, who joins Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook as this year’s Heisman finalists.
“This is a great honor for me, but it’s an honor that goes to my teammates, too. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to be successful and I share this accomplishment with them. It’s a great honor and I’m excited, but I’m looking forward to preparing for the Citrus Bowl against LSU.”
Jackson attended Boynton Beach High School in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and committed to the University of Louisville to play college football.
During Jackson’s high school tenure, he played two years of varsity football. In his two seasons at Boyton Beach High School, Jackson threw for a total of 31 passing touchdowns; he ran for a total of 22 rushing touchdowns. For his career, his accumulated QB rating was 102.7. Also, for his career, he threw over 2000 passing yards.
As a freshman at Louisville in 2015, Jackson played in 12 games and made eight starts. He completed 135 of 247 passes for 1,840 yards with 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions and ran for 960 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the 2015 Music City Bowl after passing for 227 yards with two touchdowns and rushing for a game record 226 yards and two touchdowns.
During the first game of his sophomore year against UNC-Charlotte, Jackson set a school record for total touchdowns with 8, all of them in the first half. Against Syracuse, Jackson went 20-39 for 411 yards, one touchdown and one interception passing, with 199 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns, with all five touchdowns coming in the first half. Against No.2-ranked Florida State, Jackson went 13-20 for 216 yards, threw one touchdown and one interception, and had 146 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. He scored 4 of the 5 total touchdowns in the first half, which makes it 17 total touchdowns in the first half and 18 total on the season. The game made Jackson the Heisman front runner, and gave the Cardinals a No.3 ranking, their first time since 2006. Against Marshall, Jackson went 24-44 for 417 yards and 5 touchdowns, and had 62 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. Against #5 Clemson, Louisville’s offense totaled 586 yards with Jackson accounting for 295 passing yards, 162 rushing yards and three total touchdowns (1 passing, 2 rushing). On December 5th, Jackson was revealed as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy Award. On December 8th, Jackson was awarded the Walter Camp Award and the Maxwell Award.
