The Biletnikoff Award goes to college football’s most outstanding receiver. LSU has two Biletnikoff Award winners in its history – Josh Reed in 2001 and Ja’Marr Chase in 2019.
The 2023 offense is so good that it has two Biletnikoff semifinalists, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. The dynamic duo has caught 135 passes for 2,445 yards and 26 touchdowns. The 2,445 yards and 26 TDs are the most among any wide receiver combination in the FBS.
They have one more game to add to those impressive numbers as the Tigers close out the regular season against Texas A&M at 11 AM Saturday.
‘You know both of these guys have 1,000 yards receiving, you don’t see that often, two guys on the same team, it’s just not those two guys, you talk about Kyren Lacy, he has over 500 yards receiving, they have a talented group, it will be a great challenge for us, our guys are looking forward to it,” said Aggies interim head coach Elijah Robinson.
Nabers leads the nation in receiving yards with 1,424 yards and his 12 touchdowns rank fourth nationally. Thomas leads FBS college football with 14 touchdowns. That’s one more than Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Junior, who is a Heisman candidate.
LSU Coach Brian Kelly believes Nabers and Thomas should also be in the Heisman discussion.
“I think if you take both of my receivers, those two in what they have done, they can easily be in that conversation, if Marvin Harrison is in that conversation, I don’t know why Malik and Brian Thomas are not in that conversation,” said Daniels.
Having two players from the same team as Heisman finalists has happened several times before, most recently in 2020 when Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver DeVonta Smith were finalists and Smith ended up winning the award.
I think it’s a reach for Nabers or Thomas to join Daniels as Heisman finalists, but Nabers has an excellent chance at winning the Biletnikoff.
His 1,424 yards receiving leads the country by a wide margin. Malik Washington from Virginia is second with 1,311 yards. He’s also in position to lead the SEC in receptions for a second straight season. Nabers has 80 catches and Missouri’s Luther Burden has 77.
And if Nabers has a big game Saturday, he could catch Thomas for most receiving touchdowns in the SEC. Thomas is at 14 and Nabers is at 12.
There’s a lot of talk about Texas A&M’s defense and it being ranked among the best in the nation when it comes to total yards allowed, sacks and third down conversion percentage.
But it’s a secondary that has had its issues. The Aggies gave up 374 passing yards and five touchdowns to Miami earlier this season and the Rebels put up 387 yards against them through the air on November 4th.
