American Conference football individual awards

The American Conference (American), known before July 2025 as the American Athletic Conference,^[1] gives five football awards at the conclusion of every season. The awards were first given in 2013, following the restructuring of the Big East Conference. The awards existed in the same format in the Big East from 1991 to 2012.

The five awards include Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Special Teams Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Recipients are selected by the votes of the conference's head coaches.^[2]

Offensive Player of the Year

The Offensive Player of the Year is awarded to the player voted most outstanding at an offensive position.

Winners

*	Unanimous selection
†	Co-winner
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been selected

Season	Player	Pos.	Team	Ref
2013	Blake Bortles	QB	UCF
2014	Shane Carden	QB	East Carolina	^[3]
2015	Keenan Reynolds	QB	Navy	^[4]
2016	Quinton Flowers	QB	South Florida	^[5]
2017	McKenzie Milton	QB	UCF	^[6]
2018	McKenzie Milton (2)	QB	UCF	^[7]
2019	Malcolm Perry	QB	Navy	^[8]
2020	Desmond Ridder	QB	Cincinnati	^[9]
2021	Desmond Ridder (2)	QB	Cincinnati	^[10]
2022	Tyjae Spears	RB	Tulane	^[11]
2023	Michael Pratt	QB	Tulane	^[12]
2024	Bryson Daily	QB	Army	^[13]
2025	Drew Mestemaker	QB	North Texas	^[14]

Winners by school

School (Seasons)	Winners	Years
UCF (2013–2022)	3	2013, 2017, 2018
Cincinnati (2013–2022)	2	2020, 2021
Navy (2015–)	2	2015, 2019
Tulane (2014–)	2	2022, 2023
Army (2024–)	1	2024
East Carolina (2014–)	1	2014
North Texas (2023–)	1	2025
USF (2013–)	1	2016

Defensive Player of the Year

The Defensive Player of the Year is awarded to the player voted most outstanding at a defensive position.

Winners

*	Unanimous selection
†	Co-winner

Season	Player	Pos.	Team	Ref
2013	Marcus Smith	DE	Louisville
2014	Jacoby Glenn†	CB	UCF	^[3]
2014	Tank Jakes†	LB	Memphis	^[3]
2015	Tyler Matakevich	LB	Temple	^[4]
2016	Shaquem Griffin	LB	UCF	^[5]
2017	Ed Oliver	DT	Houston	^[6]
2018	Nate Harvey	DE	East Carolina	^[7]
2019	Quincy Roche	DE	Temple	^[8]
2020	Zaven Collins*	LB	Tulsa	^[9]
2021	Sauce Gardner*	CB	Cincinnati	^[10]
2022	Ivan Pace Jr.	LB	Cincinnati	^[11]
2023	Trey Moore	LB	UTSA	^[12]
2024	Jimmori Robinson	LB	UTSA	^[13]
2025	Landon Robinson	DT	Navy	^[14]

Winners by school

School (Seasons)	Winners	Years
Cincinnati (2013–2022)	2	2021, 2022
Temple (2013–)	2	2015, 2019
UCF (2013–2022)	2	2014, 2016
UTSA (2023–)	2	2023, 2024
East Carolina (2014–)	1	2018
Houston (2013–2022)	1	2017
Memphis (2013–)	1	2014
Navy (2015–)	1	2025
Louisville (2013)	1	2013
Tulsa (2014–)	1	2020

Special Teams Player of the Year

The Special Teams Player of the Year award is given to the player voted best on special teams. The recipient can either be a placekicker, punter, returner, or a position known as a gunner.

Winners

*	Unanimous selection
†	Co-winner
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been selected

Season	Player	Pos.	Team	Ref
2013	Demarcus Ayers†	RS	Houston
2013	Tom Hornsey†	P	Memphis
2014	Jake Elliott	K	Memphis	^[3]
2015	Jake Elliott (2)	K	Memphis	^[4]
2016	Tony Pollard	KR	Memphis	^[5]
2017	Tony Pollard (2)	KR	Memphis	^[6]
2018	Isaiah Wright	RS	Temple	^[7]
2019	Dane Roy†	P	Houston	^[8]
2019	Antonio Gibson†	RS	Memphis	^[8]
2020	Chris Naggar	K	SMU	^[9]
2021	Marcus Jones	RS	Houston	^[10]
2022	Mason Fletcher	P	Cincinnati	^[11]
2023	LaJohntay Wester	RS	Florida Atlantic	^[12]
2024	Jonah Delange	K	UAB	^[13]
2025	Patrick Durkin	K	Tulane	^[14]

Winners by school

School (Seasons)	Winners	Years
Memphis (2013–)	6	2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
Houston (2013–2022)	3	2013, 2019, 2021
Cincinnati (2013–2022)	1	2022
Florida Atlantic (2023–)	1	2023
SMU (2013–)	1	2020
Temple (2013–)	1	2018
Tulane (2014–)	1	2025
UTSA (2023–)	1	2024

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year award is given to the conference's best freshman.

Winners

*	Unanimous selection
†	Co-winner

Season	Player	Pos.	Team	Ref
2013	John O'Korn	QB	Houston
2014	Marlon Mack	RB	South Florida	^[3]
2015	Tre'Quan Smith	WR	UCF	^[4]
2016	Ed Oliver	DT	Houston	^[5]
2017	T. J. Carter	CB	Memphis	^[6]
2018	Desmond Ridder	QB	Cincinnati	^[7]
2019	Kenneth Gainwell	RB	Memphis	^[8]
2020	Rahjai Harris†	RB	East Carolina	^[9]
2020	Ulysses Bentley IV	RB	SMU	^[9]
2021	Alton McCaskill	RB	Houston	^[10]
2022	E. J. Warner	QB	Temple	^[11]
2023	Makhi Hughes	RB	Tulane	^[12]
2024	Joseph Williams	WR	Tulsa	^[15]
2025	Caleb Hawkins	RB	North Texas	^[16]

Winners by school

School (Seasons)	Winners	Years
Houston (2013–2022)	3	2013, 2016, 2021
Memphis (2013–)	2	2017, 2019
Cincinnati (2013–2022)	1	2018
East Carolina (2014–)	1	2020
North Texas (2023–)	1	2025
SMU (2013–)	1	2020
Temple (2013–)	1	2022
Tulane (2014–)	1	2023
Tulsa (2014–)	1	2024
USF (2013–)	1	2014
UCF (2013–2022)	1	2015

Coach of the Year

George O'Leary won the first award with UCF after an 11–1 regular season in which UCF earned The American's last automatic berth to a BCS bowl game, the first major bowl appearance in school history.^[2]

Winners

Records reflect those at the time of selection, and do not include the conference championship game, the Army–Navy Game (which takes place a week after the conference title game), or bowl games.

*	Unanimous selection
^†	Co-Coach of the Year
Coach (X)	Denotes the number of times the coach has been selected

Season	Coach	School	Year with school	Record
2013	George O'Leary	UCF	10th	11–1
2014	Justin Fuente^[3]	Memphis	3rd	9–3
2015^†	Tom Herman^[4]	Houston	1st	11–1
2015^†	Ken Niumatalolo^[4]	Navy	8th	9–2
2016	Ken Niumatalolo (2)^[5]	Navy	9th	9–2
2017	Scott Frost^[6]	UCF	2nd	12–0
2018	Luke Fickell^[7]	Cincinnati	2nd	11–2
2019	Ken Niumatalolo (3)^[8]	Navy	12th	11–2
2020	Luke Fickell (2)^[9]	Cincinnati	4th	9–1
2021	Luke Fickell (3)^[10]	Cincinnati	5th	12–0
2022	Willie Fritz^[11]	Tulane	7th	10–2
2023	Willie Fritz^[12]	Tulane	8th	11–1
2024	Jeff Monken^[15]	Army	11th	10–1
2025	Eric Morris^[16]	North Texas	3rd	11–1

Winners by school

School (Seasons)	Winners	Years
Cincinnati (2013–2022)	3	2018, 2020, 2021
Navy (2015–)	3	2015, 2016, 2019
Tulane (2014–)	2	2022, 2023
UCF (2013–2022)	2	2013, 2017
Army (2024–)	1	2024
Houston (2013–2022)	1	2015
Memphis (2013–)	1	2014
North Texas (2023–)	1	2025

Footnotes

^a Louisville left The American for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) after 2013.^[17]

References

↑ "American Conference Launches Modernized Brand Identity Ahead of Football Media Days" (Press release). American Conference. July 21, 2025. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
1 2 American Athletic Conference (December 11, 2013). "American Athletic Conference Announces 2013 Postseason Football Honors". Retrieved December 31, 2013.
1 2 3 4 5 "American Athletic Conference Announces 2014 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "2015 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 "American Athletic Conference Announces 2016 Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 "2017 American Athletic Conference Football Postseason Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 29, 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 "UCF's Milton, ECU's Harvey, Temple's Wright Named as American Players of the Year" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 28, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2019 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2020 Football Postseason Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2021 Football Postseason Honors". theAmerican.org. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
1 2 3 4 5 "2022 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
1 2 3 4 5 "2024 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 3, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
1 2 3 "American Announces 2024 Football Award Winners".
1 2 3 "American Announces 2025 Football Award Winners".
1 2 Cite error: The named reference 2024Awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
1 2 Cite error: The named reference 2025Awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
↑ "ACC votes to add Louisville". Sports Illustrated. November 28, 2012. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2013.

[1] "American Conference Launches Modernized Brand Identity Ahead of Football Media Days" (Press release). American Conference. July 21, 2025. Retrieved July 21, 2025.

[2013list-2] 1 2 American Athletic Conference (December 11, 2013). "American Athletic Conference Announces 2013 Postseason Football Honors". Retrieved December 31, 2013.

[2014_awards-3] 1 2 3 4 5 "American Athletic Conference Announces 2014 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.

[2015_awards-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2015 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.

[2016_awards-5] 1 2 3 4 5 "American Athletic Conference Announces 2016 Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.

[2017_awards-6] 1 2 3 4 5 "2017 American Athletic Conference Football Postseason Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 29, 2017.

[2018_awards-7] 1 2 3 4 5 "UCF's Milton, ECU's Harvey, Temple's Wright Named as American Players of the Year" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 28, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.

[2019_awards-8] 1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2019 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2020.

[2020_awards-9] 1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2020 Football Postseason Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.

[2021_awards-10] 1 2 3 4 5 "American Announces 2021 Football Postseason Honors". theAmerican.org. Retrieved December 1, 2021.

[2022Awards-11] 1 2 3 4 5 "2022 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.

[2023Awards-12] 1 2 3 4 5 "2024 Postseason Football Honors" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. December 3, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.

[:2024Awards-13] 1 2 3 "American Announces 2024 Football Award Winners".

[:2025Awards-14] 1 2 3 "American Announces 2025 Football Award Winners".

[2024Awards-15] 1 2 Cite error: The named reference 2024Awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2025Awards-16] 1 2 Cite error: The named reference 2025Awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[acc-17] "ACC votes to add Louisville". Sports Illustrated. November 28, 2012. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2013.

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