Reed Tabbed Ducks' Most Outstanding Player

EUGENE – Senior defensive end Nick Reed was honored as the University of Oregon’s Most Outstanding Player while running back Jeremiah Johnson was named as the team’s Most Inspirational Player at the Ducks’ annual football awards banquet Sunday afternoon at the Eugene Hilton.

Reed, who also was the recipient of the Joe Schaffeld Trophy for the second year in a row as the team’s outstanding defensive lineman, becomes the program’s first defensive lineman since Haloti Ngata in 2005 to earn team MVP honors and only the second in 21 years.

The Ducks’ Most Outstanding and Most Inspirational honors are voted on by the Oregon players.

Oregon improved its record to 9-3, concluding its regular season with Saturday’s 65-38 domination over Oregon State in Corvallis and no worse than a second-place tie in the Pacific-10 Conference standings, depending on the outcome of this week’s USC-UCLA finale.

Additional team award winners honored at the banquet included senior wide receiver Terence Scott as the recipient of the Dudley Clarke Memorial Award as the Ducks’ most improved player; senior tight end Matt Larkin with the Elmer Sahlstrom Award as recognition for academics and attitude; junior running back LeGarrette Blount with the Duane Cargill Award as the impact player as determined by the coaching staff; senior center Max Unger with the Ed Moshofsky Award as Oregon’s outstanding offensive lineman for the third straight year, as well as the Pancake Club Award for knocking the most opposing defensive linemen to the ground; senior Patrick Chung with the Gordon E. Wilson Award as the Ducks’ outstanding special teams player; sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Masoli with the Len Casanova Award as the first-year player who best exemplifies ideals of competitiveness, team inspiration and outstanding performance; and senior linebacker Jerome Boyd with the Bob Officer Award as the player who excels despite physical adversity and injury.

Reed has accumulated 50 tackles this year, but his senior season as well as his career has been epitomized by big plays. The Trabuco Canyon, Calif., senior leads the nation in fumble recoveries (5), ranks second in the country in quarterback sacks (13 for losses of 83 yards)and is tied for fifth nationally in tackles for loss (19.5 for losses of 104 yards).

The two-time first-team Academic All-American tied Oregon’s single-season record for most quarterback sacks this season and eclipsed the school’s career record for most QB sacks (29.5). In addition, he ranks second in school history in career tackles for loss with 51.

Johnson has been one of the Ducks’ emotional leaders on and off the field this year after recovering from a season-ending knee injury that sidelined him the last half of the 2007 season. The Los Angeles standout became the school’s 14th career single-season 1,000-yard rusher after running for a single-game high 219 yards Saturday at Oregon State.

The Pac-10’s fourth-leading rusher (90.1-yard avg.) has now moved into eighth on Oregon’s career rushing and scoring charts (2,217 yards and 182 points, respectively).

In addition, true freshman tight end Jennings Stewart (Grants Pass) and wide receiver Justin Hoffman (Eugene), as well as redshirt freshman linebacker Blake Thompson (Cottage Grove), were acknowledged as the year’s top scout team contributors on offense, special teams and defense, respectively.