The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
player judged by a panel of
sportscasters,
sportswriter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...
s, and
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
head coach
A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...
es and the membership of the
Maxwell Football Club
The Robert W. Maxwell Football Club (originally called the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia) was established in 1935 in sports#American football, 1935 to promote safety in the game of American football. Named in honor of Tiny Maxwell, Robert ...
to be the best all-around in the United States. The
award
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An award may be d ...
is named after
Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, a
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
football player, coach, and sportswriter.
Johnny Lattner (1952, 1953) and
Tim Tebow (2007, 2008) are the only players to have won the award twice. Since 2014 (the beginning of the
College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...
era), the Maxwell Award winner has gone on to win the
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...
during the same voting cycle in every year except 2018 (
Tua Tagovailoa), 2023 (
Michael Penix Jr.
Michael Tarrence Penix Jr. ( ; born May 8, 2000) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). After three seasons of college football with the Indiana Hoosiers ...
), and 2024 (
Ashton Jeanty). It is the college equivalent of the
Bert Bell Award
The Bert Bell Award is presented by the Maxwell Football Club to the player of the year in the National Football League (NFL). The award is named in honor of Bert Bell
De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was an ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
, also given out by the Maxwell Club.
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Winners
References
;General
*
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;Footnotes
{{College football award navbox
College football national player awards
Awards established in 1937