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Weber State football running back Josh Davis received the Jerry Rice Award as the National Freshman of the Year at the STATS FCS banquet in Frisco, Texas.
Davis was presented the award by Jada Rice, the daughter of the Hall of Fame wide receiver. He also spoke at the banquet, which included other individual national awards.
Davis is the first Wildcat to ever receive National Freshman of the Year honors and is just the third player in Big Sky history to earn the honor.
The Jerry Rice Award is voted on by a panel of more than 150 writers, broadcasters, athletic communications directors and others.
The Sandy, Utah native had one of the best seasons in Wildcat history, helping Weber State to a 10-3 record, a Big Sky Conference title, a top-three national ranking and a trip to the FCS Quarterfinals.
In 12 games played this season, Davis set a Wildcat freshman record with 1,362 rushing yards, which also ranks as the sixth-most yards in a season in school history. He had 250 carries and nine rushing touchdowns and finished the season ranked 12th in the country in rushing at 113.5 yards per game, which was also third best in the Big Sky. He had seven games with more than 100 yards rushing and two games with more than 200 yards, including a season-high 225 yards and two touchdowns in a win at Southern Utah.
In addition, Davis had 30 receptions for 193 yards and had 14 punt returns for 224 yards with one touchdown. He finished with 1,779 all-purpose yards, the most by a Wildcat freshman and the seventh most in a season in Weber State history. He ended the season ranked 10th in the country in all-purpose yards at 148.2 per game.
He was also named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year, the first Wildcat to ever earn the honor. He also earned All-America honors from HERO Sports and earned first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors. During the season, he was also twice honored as the STATS National Freshman of the Week.
Paul Grua is the Director of Athletic Communications at Weber State University.
