Left: David Buehler finished the 2008 season with the strongest kickoff specialist performance in D-I FBS college football.
2008 SUMMARY
2008 Kickoff Specialist Trophy – David Buehler, USC 2008 Wide Receiver Trophy – Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State 2008 Punt Returner Trophy – Javier Arenas, Alabama University of Southern California kickoff specialist David Buehler is the recipient of the 2008 Kickoff Specialist Trophy. Buehler’s kickoffs went for 5,976 yards (67.9 ypko) with 48 of the 88 kickoffs (54.5%) resulting in touchbacks. Furthermore, the majority of kickoffs were at low to moderate altitudes with moderate to high atmospheric densities.
Buehler’s kickoff performance was stronger than that of other top kickoff specialists, including: South Carolina’s Ryan Succop, Utah’s Ben Vroman, and Kansas State’s Brooks Rossman. The award marks the first kickoff specialist trophy conferment in college football history. Buehler was the first kicker selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, despite not making a single balloting-based award semifinalist list. In 2009, he set the Dallas Cowboys franchise record for touchbacks in a season. Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant is the recipient of the 2008 Wide Receiver Trophy. Bryant’s receiving performance was stronger than that of other top receivers, including BYU’s Austin Collie, Kansas State’s Dezmon Briscoe, and Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree. In addition, Bryant’s receiving performance was the strongest among D-I FBS receivers in at least 4 seasons (since Pittsburgh’s Larry Fitzgerald & Hawaii’s Ashley Lelie).
Bryant was a first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft for the Dallas Cowboys. He did not win a balloting-based award during his college career at Oklahoma State. In Bryant’s rookie season, he set a number of franchise records, including longest punt return since 1974 and first 100-yard receiving game by a rookie in almost a decade. Alabama’s Javier Arenas is the recipient of the 2008 Punt Returner Trophy, marking the first national punt returner trophy conferment in college football. Arenas finished the 2008 season with the strongest punt return performance among all D-I FBS punt returners. He also finished his career with the strongest punt return performance over 4 seasons of D-I FBS college football.
His performance was stronger than that of other top returners, including: Florida’s Brandon James, Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant, Boise State’s Kyle Wilson, Louisiana Tech’s Phillip Livas, Ohio State’s Ray Small, and Central Michigan’s Antonio Brown. The Kansas City Chiefs selected Arenas in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.