2021 Pac-12 Football Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva, and All-Conference honors announced

Offensive Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Drake London, USC

Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year: Devin Lloyd, Utah

Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Jayden de Laura, Washington State

Freshman Defensive Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Junior Tafuna, Utah

Coach of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Kyle Whittingham, Utah

London, a pre-season All-American, finished tops in the conference in both receptions (88) and receiving yards (1,084) despite being limited to just eight games after suffering a broken ankle against Arizona.  He is the first Trojan to win this award since fellow WR Marqise Lee in 2012.  A 2021 Biletnikoff and Maxwell Award semifinalist, London was on pace for breaking Lee’s USC single-season records in both receptions (118) and receiving yards (1,721)

• 88 receptions are tied for ninth on USC’s season catches list.  London had at least 10 receptions in five of the eight games this season and is the first Trojan to twice haul in at least 15 catches in a game.   Joins Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree (2007) as the only Power 5 players to have 88 catches through 8 games.

• Had six games this season with 100 or more receiving yards including five in a row.  The streak was ended by his injury, as the junior had already tallied 81 yards in the second quarter when he suffered the season-ending injury.  First Trojan with five straight games with 100 or more yards receiving since Lee in 2012.  Only Pac-12 player to reach 1,000 receiving yards this season and did it in the first seven games.

• Ranks in the top 20 in Trojans history in receptions (160, 17th) and receiving yards (2,783, 11th).  

• Named 2021 Midseason All-American first team by the Associated Press, ESPN.com, The Athletic, CBSSports.com, On3.com and the Sporting News.  London’s 135.5 receiving yards per game and 11.0 receptions per game would both rank tops in FBS.

Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year: Devin Lloyd, LB, Utah

Lloyd, a two-time Butkus Award Finalist, leads the Utes with a career-high 106 tackles during the regular season including 22.0 tackles for loss, which was second most in the country.  The junior becomes the first Utah player to win this award and just the third Ute to win a Pac-12 annual award after Zack Moss won 2019 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and Ty Jordan won 2020 Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year.

• Named MVP of the 2021 Pac-12 Championship Game, leading the Utes to their first ever Pac-12 championship.  Had seven tackles and an interception he returned 34 yards for a touchdown to give the Utes a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.  It was Lloyd’s second Pick 6 of the season and third of his career.

• Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, presented by Nextiva, three times this season, the most of any player this season and first to win it three times in a season since Arizona’s Scooby Wright in 2014.

• Five games with multiple tackles for loss this season had at least 0.5 TFL in 11 of 13 games this season.  

• Led Pac-12 linebackers with 8.0 sacks in the regular season after having 8.5 sacks in his first three seasons combined.  Career-high 3.0 sacks in win over Arizona State.

• Second straight season named first team All-Pac-12, a semifinalist for the 2021 Bednarik Award and a finalist for the 2021 Lott IMPACT trophy

Offensive Freshman Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Jayden de Laura, QB, Washington State

de Laura becomes the first Cougar to win this award after finishing the regular season atop the conference in passing yards (2,757) and pass TD (23).

• Led the Cougars to their first Apple Cup win since 2012, completing an Apple Cup record 84.3% (27-32) of his passes for the fourth-best completion percentage in WSU single-game history.  Had 245 yards passing and another 31 on the ground as de Laura was named Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Week.

• Multiple touchdown passes in eight games this season including a career-high four scores against Arizona.

• Named Rose Bowl Game Pac-12 Player of the Week in win over Oregon State when he passed for career-high 399 yards with 3 passing touchdowns.

Honorable Mention: Tanner McKee, QB, Stanford; Byron Cardwell, RB, Oregon; Sataoa Laumea, OL, Utah; Jaxson Dart, QB, USC; Brenden Rice, WR, Colorado

Defensive Freshman Player of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Junior Tafuna, DT, Utah

Tafuna emerged as a force at defensive tackle, starting the final 10 games of the season.  First Utah player to win this award.

• Registered 4.5 sacks this season, second most among Pac-12 freshmen.

• Named Pac-12 Defensive Line Player of the Week after Utah’s win over Oregon in Salt Lake City.  

• Had career-high nine tackles at Arizona, the most by a Utes defensive lineman since 2018.

Honorable Mention: Christian Gonzalez, CB, Colorado; Cole Bishop, S, Utah; Jeffrey Bassa, S, Oregon; Lu-Magia Hearns III, DB, California; Calen Bullock, DB, USC;

Coach of the Year, presented by Nextiva: Kyle Whittingham, Utah

Whittingham takes home his second Pac-12 Coach of the Year award in the last three years after leading Utah to its first ever Pac-12 Championship.  He also won the award in 2019 and has been Utah’s only head coach since the school joined the conference.

• Became Utah’s all-time wins leader, passing Ike Armstrong, in their Nov. 20 win over then No. 3 Oregon.  144-69 in his tenure with Utes.

• Named one of 13 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award as national coach of the year.

• 10 or more wins in a season for the sixth time in his career and his third Pac-12 South title in the last 4 years.

• One of four active Pac-12 coaches to have won this award multiple times (David Shaw, Chip Kelly, Karl Dorrell).
• Has won 19 of his last 22 conference games.
• 11-3 all-time in bowl games including 2-0 in New Year’s Six bowls (2005 Fiesta, 2009 Sugar).

RS = Return Specialist

AP/ST = All-Purpose/Special Teams Player (not a kicker or returner)

(*) Two-time first team selection, (**) Three-time first team selection