Day 24: Who will be the Huskies’ Offensive MVP?

How many days until Husky Football? Let’s check with D.J.

Last week, Chris Landon discussed candidates for Pac-12 Offensive MVP, an award Jake Browning earned in 2016. Strangely enough, although Browning was chosen the best offensive player in the conference, he was not selected as the Huskies' Most Valuable Offensive player by the team; that honor went to John Ross.

The awards given out at the Husky football banquet have changed over the years, depending on the coaching staff. It’s a little unclear how the MVP award is chosen, but the best information I could gather suggest that some years it is voted on by just the players, and sometimes by players, coaches, and those in the athletic department. Despite the fact that the award has at times been called the “Sports Radio 950 KJR Player of the Year,” it is an award that is not voted on by the media, according to the UW.

Going back through the years it’s a little difficult to make a list of the past winners, since there have been years where there was an Outstanding Offensive Player and a Sports Radio 950 KJR Offensive Player of the Year.

Confused? Good, me too. Here is an unofficial list of the past 11 winners:

No Jake Locker, that was surprising to me. However, Locker did take home the Guy Flaherty award his junior and senior seasons as the team’s most inspirational player. He won the KJR version of Offensive MVP in 2007, while Louis Rankin won the plain ol’ Offensive Most Valuable Player. Going back to 2006 and excluding the seasons where there was more than one MVP, seven of the last 11 awards have gone to Husky tailbacks, while Isaiah Stanback is the only QB.

What does all this mean?

Well, a quarterback is due to win this award if you ask me. Locker was bested by Rankin and twice by Chris Polk. Keith Price and his 33 TD tosses lost out to the 1800 rushing yards from Bishop Sankey. Browning’s 43 TD passes played second fiddle to the monster year Ross put together.