Amari Cooper Wins Biletnikoff Award

After being named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year and a 1st team All-American on two different lists, Alabama's junior wide receiver added to his postseason award haul by winning the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the nation's most oustanding receiver.  Cooper received the award as part of the Home Deport College Football Awards Show, which was held at Walt Disney World.  He was joined at the ceremony by head coach Nick Saban and teammates Landon Collins and JK Scott, both of whom were also nominated for individual postseason awards.  West Virginia's Kevin White and Colorado State's Rashard Higgins were the other finalist in consideration for the Biletnikoff.

Amari Cooper becomes the first player at Alabama to win the Biletnikoff Award, and despite the conference's recent string of talented receivers (Alshon Jeffery, Odell Beckham Jr, AJ Green, Julio Jones), Cooper is only the second player in SEC history to win the award, the other being LSU's Josh Reed (2001).

Cooper's win also continues an impressive trend for the University of Alabama.  Since Nick Saban arrived in 2007, Crimson Tide players have won the Heisman, Outland, Doak Walker, Maxwell, Campbell, Rimington, Unitas Golden Arm, Butkus and now Biletnikoff trophies.  In fact, aside from 2007 and 2010, an Alabama player has won a major individual award in each of Saban's seasons as head coach.

On Saturday, Cooper will travel to New York as one of the three finalists for the Heisman Memorial Trophy.  He is the fourth Crimson Tide player under Saban to finish in the top three for the award, and the first wide receiver to be invited to the ceremony since Pittsburgh's Larry Fitzgerald in 2003.