What figures to be an award-winning week for LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is underway.
Burrow was named The Associated Press college football player of the year on Thursday in a landslide vote, making him the first LSU player to win the the 21-year-old award.
Burrow, who has led the top-ranked Tigers to an unbeaten season and their first College Football Playoff appearance, received 51 of 54 first-place votes from AP Top 25 poll voters and a total of 159 points.
Ohio State defensive end Chase Young was second with three first-place votes and 69 points while Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields was third with 43 points. Burrow, Young, Fields and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, who finished fourth with 33 points, are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy to be handed out Saturday in New York.
Burrow is the overwhelming Heisman favorite after passing for 4,715 yards and a Southeastern Conference record 48 touchdowns. The senior transfer from Ohio State is on pace to set a major college record, completing 77.9% of his passes.
Burrow is up for two more awards Thursday night at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. He is a finalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year Award, along with Fields and Hurts. He is also a finalist for the Maxwell Player of the Year, along with Young and Hurts.
The AP player of the year award began in 1998 and only five times has the winner not been the same as the Heisman winner; the last time that happened was in 2015, when Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey won the AP award and Alabama running back Derrick Henry was the Heisman winner.
LSU faces Hurts and No. 4 Oklahoma in the playoff semifinal Dec. 28 at the Peach Bowl. Later that night, Fields, Young and the rest of the second-ranked Buckeyes will play No. 3 Clemson in the other semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl.
