The University of Missouri has four players that have been named to watch lists for a pair of prestigious national awards. Seniors Chase Coffman and Chase Daniel, and sophomore Jeremy Maclin have been named to the 2008 Maxwell Award Watch List, while a fourth senior William Moore has been named to the 2008 Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List.
Each list is comprised of seventy-five players who were selected based on their performance during the 2007 season, as chosen by the Maxwell Football Club’s Selection Committee and Maxwell Club President Ron Jaworski.
Coffman ranked among the nation’s top tight ends in 2007, despite playing for much of the season with bone spurs in his ankle that hindered his health. In spite of the injury, Coffman had 52 receptions for 531 yards and seven touchdowns. Daniel was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2007 as he helped lead the Tigers to a school-record 12 wins and MU’s first-ever Big 12 Conference North Division championship. Daniel threw for an MU-record 4,306 yards and 33 touchdowns. Maclin burst onto the national scene as a redshirt freshman a year ago, as he amassed 2,776 all-purpose yards to break the NCAA freshman single-season record. Maclin earned consensus first-team All-American honors for his play, becoming MU’s first-ever freshman first-team All-American.
Moore came into his own as part of Mizzou’s much-improved defensive unit in 2007, and tied for the national lead in interceptions, with an MU single-season record eight pickoffs. Moore also turned in a career-high 117 tackles on the season, including nine for loss, and added two forced fumbles.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in America since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell. The Chuck Bednarik Award has been presented since 1995 and is named in honor of Chuck Bednarik, a former University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Eagle great.
Semifinalists for the Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced in early November and three finalists for each award will be announced November 25 th , with the winners being announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show in December.