The Race Doesn't Always Go to the Swift

4 comments so far November 26, 2008 by Brandon Vogel

The list of 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award was whittled down to three finalists this week and it’s a Big 12 only affair with Michael Crabtree, Dez Bryant and Jeremy Maclin up for the trophy. That’s good. As loaded as this conference is behind center—all 3 finalists for the O’Brien Award hail from the Big 12--it hasn’t hurt the spectacular signal-callers that the Big 12 is also the preeminent receiving conference in the country as well—the Mackey Award (TEs) is exclusively Big 12 too.

You can’t really argue with the greatness of Crabtree, Bryant and Maclin. All are deserving. The semifinalists, however, is a bit more difficult to pinpoint. Namely, where was Nate Swift’s name? In addition to the three finalists, three more Big 12 receivers were listed among the 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff award: Chase Coffman, Kerry Meier and Quan Cosby.

Is Nate Swift one of the 10 best receivers in the country? That’s a hard, but not necessarily impossible, argument to make on its own. But when Cosby and Meier are included in that bunch then it’s an argument that, as a Nebraska fan, you’re almost duty bound to make. So I will.

Here’s the big beef: Cosby and Meier, good as they are, are not even the leading receivers on their team in terms of total yardage or, arguably and more importantly, impact. No, that would be Jordan Shipley and Desmond Briscoe respectively. Shipley and Briscoe both lead their respective teams, and are currently tied for third in the conference, in touchdown catches, ahead of Maclin, Coffman, Meier and Cosby (all semifinalists). Briscoe ranks second in the conference in total receiving yards. Shipley ranks third in the conference in total receptions. I’d have a tough time arguing that Swift should’ve been included as a finalist over either of those two candidates but they weren’t selected in favor of Meier or Cosby either.

So by way of comparison, here are the numbers for Swift, Meier and Cosby:

The most noticeable difference above is in receptions: Swift trails by 14 but he has more yards than either Cosby or Meier thus his yards per catch and per game numbers are higher. He also holds a slight edge in touchdown catches.

The big question coming into 2008 was who was going to be Nebraska's big play receiver? Swift and Peterson were viewed as veteran, consistent players but not game changers. But with an average of over 15 yards per catch, a team leading 8 touchdowns and some big special teams plays sprinkled in for good measure the answer now is readily apparent: It's Nate Swift.

My point here is not to diminish the seasons of either Cosby or Meier. The fact that Kerry Meier went from a quarterback to a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist is a tribute to his toughness and athleticism and Cosby has a highlight reel that would stack up against anybody's, Maclin, Tebow and Moreno included.

Rather, the point is to give Nate Swift the credit he probably won't find on any end of the season awards or all-conference lists. In Phil Steele's preseason magazine, he listed his top 67 receivers in the country. Swift was nowhere on the list and now, according to the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, he's not one of the top ten receivers in the country but he's not far behind and that, perhaps, is the biggest surprise of Nebraska's season thus far.

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