LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Lawrence Arnold has been selected to the preseason watch list for the 2024 Biletnikoff Award, which was announced by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club (TQC) Foundation, Inc. on Wednesday morning.
The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the college football season’s outstanding receiver. Any player who catches a pass is eligible, regardless of position. As such, the Biletnikoff Award recognizes college football’s outstanding receiver, not merely college football’s outstanding wide receiver. The Biletnikoff Award is a single season, not career, award. Receivers are frequently added to the watch list as their season performances dictate and actual performance, not potential, is the basis for inclusion on the watch list.
KU’s leader in receiving yards in each of the past two seasons, Arnold finished the 2023 campaign with 44 receptions for 784 yards and six touchdowns. He averaged 17.8 yards per reception, which was second on the team, and he had two 100-yard receiving games. Arnold closed out the season with a career-high 132 yards and three touchdowns on six receptions in the Jayhawks’ 49-36 victory over UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
From DeSoto, Texas, Arnold has previously been named a Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team selection by Athlon and he earned a spot on the East-West Shrine Bowl Watch List. He enters his senior season ranked No. 7 in school history for receiving yards (1,859), No. 10 in touchdown receptions (13) and No. 11 in career receptions (121).
Arnold becomes the first Jayhawk named to the Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List since Andrew Parchment, who earned a spot on the list in 2020.
The name Biletnikoff is synonymous with the term receiver. Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the pro and college football halls of fame, was a consensus All-America receiver at Florida State University and an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders. He caught 589 passes for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns in his 14-year Raiders career from 1965 through 1978. Fred was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XI.
The semifinalists, finalists and award recipient are selected by the highly distinguished Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, a group of 600 prominent college football journalists, commentators, announcers, Biletnikoff Award winners and other former receivers. The winner of the 2024 Biletnikoff Award will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards show, which airs on ESPN on December 12, 2024.
2024 Kansas Football Preseason Watch Lists:
Maxwell Award – QB Jalon Daniels, RB Devin Neal
Patrick Mannelly Award – LS Luke Hosford
Bronko Nagurski Award – CB Cobee Bryant
Paycom Jim Thorpe Award – CB Cobee Bryant
Allstate Wuerffel Trophy – TE Jared Casey
Walter Camp Award – QB Jalon Daniels
Doak Walker Award – RB Devin Neal, RB Daniel Hishaw Jr.
Comeback Player of the Year – QB Jalon Daniels