Thorpe drought ends for Big 12
TCU's Moehrig is league's first Jim Thorpe Award winner since 2006
There was a time when the Big 12 Conference dominated the Jim Thorpe Award ceremony.
From 2001-06, five Big 1 2 pl ayers won t he award, presented by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame to the top defensive back in college football.
Thursday, TCU's Trevon Moehrig became the conference's first winner since that streak, taking home the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award at the College Football Awards Show on ESPN.
Mo eh rig will be in Oklahoma City on March 30 for the award banquet at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
“It' s just unbelievable ,” Mo eh rig said Friday .“I thought about it last night and I still can't believe it. Seeing those guys before me, it's just an honor to even be on the same list as them.”
Moehrig beat out fellow finalists Patrick S ur ta in I I of Alabama a nd Central Florida's Richie Grant for the award.
The junior, who earlier this month declared for the NFL Draft, became the first Big 12 player to win the award since Texas' Aaron Ross in 2006. Ross was the second of backto- back Longhorns to win. From 2001-03, Roy Williams of Oklahoma, Terence Newman of Kansas State and the Sooners' Derrick Strait gave the conference three consecutive winners.
“There's a lot of talk that's been going on throughout the years that the Big 12 doesn't play defense,” Moehrig said. “But especially at TCU, I think that Coach P (Gary Patterson) prepares us and gets us ready for whatever we' re about to see and I think Coach P's defense and his program with how he does things prepares you not only for football games but for life.”
Even after he was the highest-graded safety in FBS as a sophomore by Pro Football Focus, with one of the best grades ever at the position, earning t he Thorpe Award wasn't much of a consideration for Moehrig.
Moehrig said he didn't think the award was a possibility for him until December when he was named a semifinalist.
“You play football when you're a young kid and you see these guys get this award, it's a dream come true,” Moehrig said.
Moehrig's splashiest play was his game- saving interception in the closing minutes of the Horned Frogs' upset of Oklahoma State on Dec. 5.
He had nine pass breakups and two intercept ions this season with his 11 passes def ended, ranking him among the top defenders in the country and behind only teammates Tre'Vius HodgesTomlinson in the Big 12.
He had three pass breakups against OU this season.
But what Patterson said he' d remember about Moehrig wasn't the Saturday performances, but the work throughout there st of the week leading up to them.
“There are people that you just love being around everyday when you go out and coach. … t his one was special ,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said.
“I always look forward to 2: 10 every day and going on the field and being able to coach because it was fun always watching all the different concepts you put together to try to stop somebody and not always can your players do it and Tre and his group were always ones that could pull it off.”