Rondale Moore became the first Purdue player to win a national award in 17 years.
The freshman wide receiver and return specialist was named the winner of the Paul Hornung Award Wednesday morning. The Louisville Sports Commission and Paul Hornung present the award to the most versatile player in major college football. He is the first freshman to be presented with the honor since the award was created in 2010.
The last Purdue football player to take home a nation-wide individual honor was Travis Dorsch winning the 2001 Ray Guy Award, given to college football's best punter. Drew Brees won the Maxwell Award, given to college football's most outstanding player in 2000 and Tim Stratton won the John Mackey Award in the same year as college football's best tight end.
Moore was chosen as the Paul Hornung Award winner from among five finalists by a 17-member national selection committee comprised of sports journalists, coaches and retired NFL players; online fan voting accounted for the 18th vote. The other 2018 Paul Hornung Award finalists were: Marcus Green of Louisiana-Monroe, KJ Hamler of Penn State, N'Keal Harry of Arizona State and Connor Heyward of Michigan State. Moore will be presented with the trophy in a banquet on March 7, at at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville. Moore becomes the third straight winner of this award from a Big Ten Conference school. Last year's winner of the award was Penn State's Saquon Barkley, who ended up finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting and was the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL draft. In 2017, Michigan defensive back Jabrill Peppers took home the honor and finished fifth in the 2016 Heisman Trophy voting.
"It's rare to see a true freshman make such an impact on games," Paul Hornung said in the media release announcing Moore's award win. "We got to know Rondale when he was in high school, and it's great to see that his skills and positive attitude quickly transferred to the college level at Purdue."
Moore finished the regular season as the leader of the Big Ten in receptions (103), receiving yards (1164) and touchdowns (12) on his way to being named the league's Freshman of the Year recipient, Receiver of the Year honor and a consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection.
"We are extremely proud of Rondale and want to thank the Paul Hornung Award and the Louisville Sports Commission for this tremendous honor," Jeff Brohm said in a statement. "We knew Rondale was a special talent from the moment he first stepped on campus. Like Paul Hornung, Rondale is a threat in so many ways on the field and brings a real excitement and electricity whenever he touches the ball."
On Tuesday, GoldandBlack.com detailed the checklist of single-season records Moore can accomplish or come close to earning when Purdue plays Auburn in the 2018 Music City Bowl on Dec. 28. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.
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