LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Ron Dayne, Wisconsin's
record-setting tailback and the Heisman Trophy favorite, won the
Maxwell and Doak Walker awards Thursday night.
|  | | Ron Dayne shows off the Maxwell Award, left, and the Doak Walker Award that he won Thursday. |
Dayne, college football's career rushing leader, received the
Maxwell Award as the best all-around player and the Doak Walker
Award as the outstanding running back during the College Football
Awards at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
Dayne edged quarterbacks Drew Brees of Purdue and Joe Hamilton
of Georgia Tech for the Maxwell Award.
"It's really a great honor, which I'm very grateful to have
received," Dayne said. "I don't really know how to react right
now. They were great finalists."
He topped Alabama's Shaun Alexander and Virginia's Thomas Jones
for the Doak Walker Award.
"I'm honored to win the award with such tremendous
competition," Dayne said. "People have seen that I'm a different
type of back in the way I run. We never quit and that's what I'm
most proud of. None of this has all really sunk in though."
Dayne topped 200 yards in three of the final four games as he
led the Badgers (9-2) to the Big Ten Conference title and a second
straight Rose Bowl berth. He ran for 214 yards in an easy victory
over Michigan State, which entered the game with the nation's top
rushing defense, and broke Ricky Williams' NCAA career record with
a 216-yard performance in a 41-3 victory over Iowa in the
regular-season finale.
His career totals are 1,115 carries for 6,397 yards and 63
touchdowns. For the season, Dayne was the nation's second-leading
rusher with 1,834 yards -- 6.1 yards per carry -- and 19 TDs.
Hamilton became the first Georgia Tech player ever to claim a
national award, taking home the Davey O'Brien Award, which is given
to the nation's top quarterback. Hamilton beat out Brees and
Marshall's Chad Pennington.
"This has been one of the best weeks of my life," Hamilton
said. "It was a great feeling to be grouped with guys like Drew
and Pennington. I just tried to be consistent and produce all year.
It's paid off and I'm thankful for it."
Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington received the Chuck
Bednarik Trophy as the defensive player of the year, and Alabama
offensive tackle Chris Samuels was awarded the Outland Trophy as
the outstanding interior lineman.
Stanford's Troy Walters won the Biletnikof Award as the
outstanding wide receiver, Minnesota's Tyrone Carter won the Jim
Thorpe Award as the top defensive back, and Florida State's
Sebastian Janikowski received the Lou Groza Award as the
outstanding kicker.
In other awards, Hofstra quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi was
honored as the Burger King Scholar Athlete of the Year, and former
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne received the Home Depot Coach of the
Decade Award.
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Maxwell Awards winners
Lou Groza Award winners
Jim Thorpe Trophy winners
Fred Biletnikoff Award winners
Doak Walker Award winners
Davey O'Brien Trophy winners
Chuck Bednarik Award winners
AFCA Assistant Coach of Year award winners
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Dayne, Hamilton headline award winners