FAYETTEVILLE — Football may be king in the SEC, but Arkansas track & field star Jarrion Lawson beat a Heisman Trophy winner for the conference’s top honor for the 2015-16 school year.
Conference athletic directors voted Lawson winner of the Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced Thursday.
Among the nominees from the SEC’s other 13 schools was Alabama tailback Derrick Henry, who won the Heisman Trophy last season and helped the Crimson Tide win the national championship.
It’s only the second time since the SEC began honoring its top male athlete in 1976 that a Heisman Trophy winner didn’t receive the conference award. The exception resulted when Tennessee tennis player John-Patrick Smith won for the 2010-11 school year instead of Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
At the time there was widespread media speculation Newton was snubbed by SEC athletic directors because of reports his father tried to shop him to the highest bidder in recruiting after his sophomore year in junior college. It also didn’t help Newton’s cause that he was dismissed from Florida after his freshman year for disciplinary reasons.
Henry had no off-the-field issues.
SEC athletic directors — who aren’t allowed to vote for nominees from their schools — rewarded Lawson after he capped his senior year at Arkansas by joining Jesse Owens as the only athletes to win the long jump, 100 and 200 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Owens, competing for Ohio State, swept those events in 1935 and 1936.
“It may be a little bit of a surprise to a lot of people that Jarrion beat a guy that won the Heisman Trophy, but he’s on a roll,” Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said. “I think his performances the last month solidified him as somebody that’s done phenomenal things.”
Adding to Lawson’s resume is that he graduated from Arkansas in three years and worked on a master’s degree in business while competing as a senior.
“To beat out a fantastic athlete like Derrick Henry, it just shows where Jarrion is at as a student-athlete,” said Arkansas assistant Travis Geopfert, who coaches Lawson in the long jump. “He’s excelled in the classroom and he’s excelled on the track at every level were he competes.”
Along with Lawson and Henry, other nominees were: Joe Patching, Auburn (swimming); Caeleb Dressel, Florida (swimming); Lee McCoy, Georgia (golf); Tyler Ulis, Kentucky (basketball); Leonard Fournette, LSU (football); Ryan Walling, Ole Miss (track & field); Dak Prescott, Mississippi State (football); Fabian Schwingenschlogl, Missouri (swimming); Matt NeSmith, South Carolina (golf); Jake Blankenship, Tennessee (track & field); Lindon Victor, Texas A&M (track & field); and Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt (golf).
“My hat’s off to Derrick Henry and all the other athletes that were in consideration,” Bucknam said. “The SEC is a special league, there’s no question about that.
“I’m sure it was a tough decision for the voters, but I’m glad Jarrion won the award. He deserved it.”
The athletic directors’ vote was taken before the U.S. Olympic Trials, so Lawson’s world-leading legal 28-1 3/4 mark in the long jump that has made him an Olympian wasn’t a factor.
Bucknam praised Lawson’s ability to stay focused at the NCAA Championships and not be distracted by looking ahead to the U.S. Trials just three weeks later or to professional contract opportunities.
Last week Asics announced an endorsement deal with Lawson that was reportedly its largest ever with a male athlete.
“Many times, guys lose sight of what’s right in front of them, but that didn’t happen to Jarrion at the NCAA meet,” Bucknam said. “He didn’t think about the Olympic Trials or worry about what kind of pro contract he was going to get.
“Jarrion stayed focused and beat the people he had to beat at the NCAA meet and did something nobody had done in 80 years, and he’s reaping the benefits of it now.
“That’s what I love so much about the guy. He’s a shining example of living in the moment.”
Arkansas baseball player Andrew Benintendi, now playing in the Boston Red Sox farm system, was the SEC’s top male athlete last year when he also won several national player of the year awards.
Benintendi and Lawson are the first different back-to-back winners of the SEC award from the same school since 1984.
There have been four back-to-back individual winners: LSU basketball player Shaquille O’Neal (1991-1992); Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel (1995-1996); Arkansas distance runner Alistair Cragg (2003-2004) and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (2008-2009).
Other winners include Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, Peyton Manning, Mark Ingram, Johnny Manziel, Cornelius Bennett and Derrick Thomas in football; Will Clark, Todd Helton and David Price in baseball; Corliss Williamson, Anthony Davis, Reggie King and Jack Givens in basketball; and Harvey Glance — the inaugural winner 40 years ago — in track and field.
“Look at the history of the SEC,” Geopfert said. “For Jarrion to put his name on a list with athletes like that carries a ton of weight.”