‘It’s remarkable.’ Kentucky star Lynn Bowden wins 2019 Paul Hornung Award.
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UK in the 2019 Belk Bowl
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Return man. Wide receiver. Quarterback.
Lynn Bowden in his time at the University of Kentucky has played at just about every position in the Wildcats’ offense. If head coach Mark Stoops would have asked, he’d have played on defense, too — both have declared so.
It is Bowden’s wide breadth of talents as a playmaker — and the success he demonstrated through that versatility — that made him the 2019 winner of college football’s Paul Hornung Award. The Louisville Sports Commission announced the news Wednesday morning.
Bowden was one of four finalists for the award along with LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Virginia’s Joe Reed and Nebraska’s Wan’Dale Robinson, a former Western Hills High School standout who won both of Kentucky’s Mr. Football awards in 2018.
Robinson was the winner of the Louisville Sports Commission’s online fan vote, which is included among 17 other voters nationwide that determine the final winner.
The Hornung award is named after Louisville native and Hall of Famer Paul Hornung, who played college football at Notre Dame and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. He was a four-time NFL champion and a member of the Green Bay Packers when they won the first Super Bowl in 1967.
Hornung was a halfback, quarterback and placekicker at Notre Dame, where he also played basketball. The Louisville Sports Commission has awarded his namesake honor since 2010.
Bowden is the third recipient from the Southeastern Conference, joining Georgia’s Brandon Boykin (2011) and LSU’s Odell Beckham Jr. (2013). The other award-winners were Stanford’s Owen Marecic (2010), West Virginia’s Tavon Austin (2012), Washington’s Shaq Thompson (2014), Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey (2015), Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers (2016), Penn State’s Saquon Barkley (2017) and Purdue’s Rondale Moore (2018).
Following UK’s 45-13 win over Louisville to end the regular season, Stoops compared Bowden’s competitive spirit to that of former Cardinals star Lamar Jackson, now a standout for the Baltimore Ravens.
“In our business, if you are going to be an alpha dog, then you be an alpha dog, and that’s him,” Stoops said. “When you do that time and time again and prove it and put the team on your back, and say, ‘Let’s ride, let’s do this,’ you know, it’s remarkable.”
Lynn Bowden’s qualifications
A former four-star recruit, Bowden primarily played quarterback at Warren G. Harding High School in Ohio but came to Kentucky as a wide receiver. The 6-foot-1, 199-pound Youngstown native played in all 13 of UK’s games as a freshman, primarily on special teams, but totaled 210 yards on 17 receptions and was named to the coaches’ All-SEC Freshman Team in 2017. He followed that up with a sophomore season in which he started 12 of 13 games and led the Wildcats in catches (67), receiving yards (745) and touchdown receptions (five). Bowden also was one of three players in the country to return two punts for TDs in 2018.
He began the 2019 season as a wide receiver and return specialist for the Wildcats but took over as UK’s quarterback following its first bye week of the season in response to injuries to Terry Wilson, the program’s incumbent starter, and Sawyer Smith, a graduate transfer who earned the backup role following fall camp. Bowden went 5-2 as UK’s starting quarterback, accumulating 1,137 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns through those seven games. He finished the regular season with 1,235 rushing yards, 348 receiving yards, 12 total touchdowns (one receiving) and 253 return yards (200 on kickoffs).
Bowden, after taking over at quarterback, was three times named Offensive Player of the Week by the SEC, an honor he shared twice and won outright following a record-setting performance against Louisville. He rushed for 284 yards against the Cardinals — second-most in a single game in school history — and four touchdowns, tying a single-game school record for total TDs. His 284 yards were the most by an SEC quarterback in league history.
Earlier this week Bowden was named to the All-SEC First Team offense as an all-purpose player by the Associated Press and league coaches. He announced this week that he will enter the 2020 NFL Draft but said he will play against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
Belk Bowl
When: Noon Tuesday, Dec. 31
Where: Charlotte, N.C.
Records: UK 7-5; Virginia Tech 8-4
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 7:30 AM.
