CSU tight end Trey McBride named Mackey Award finalist
Nov 23, 2021, 9:23 PM
From Crockett Gillmore to Kory Sperry to Joel Dreessen to Keli McGregor, the Colorado State football program has produced its fair share of highly touted tight ends over the decades.
But Rams senior Trey McBride has earned a distinction none of his predecessors have.
On Tuesday, the Fort Morgan native was named as a finalist for the John Mackey Award, given each season to the nation’s top tight end, joining Iowa State’s Charlie Kolar and Texas A&M’s Jalen Wydermyer.
It’s the first time in the program’s history that a CSU tight end has been named a finalist for the award, which in McBride’s case is a no-brainer.
Not only does McBride lead the nation’s tight ends in receptions, yards, yards per game and 100-yard receiving games, but he’s done so while taking 70 percent of his snaps from an in-line position.
McBride is just the 13th tight end in FBS history to record 1,000 yards receiving in a season, and his 1,008 yards currently ranks No. 12 all-time with one more game to go.
CSU’s all-time leader for yards and receptions by a tight end, McBride has more receptions, yards and 100-yard receiving games than any previous Mackey Award winner through 11 games.
McBride is also one of the most utilized weapons from any offense in the country, accounting for 38 percent of the Rams completions this season, and he is also the only non-specialist from outside the Power 5 conferences to be named a finalist for any of the major awards announced Tuesday.
The Rams tight end will learn his fate when it comes to the Mackey Award during The Home Depot College Football Awards show on ESPN, which is slated for Dec. 9 at 7:00 p.m. MST.
