Ole Miss Running Back Quinshon Judkins Named Nominee for CSpire Conerly Trophy

JACKSON, Miss. –(Release) Ole Miss sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins is one of 10 nominees for the 2023 C Spire Conerly Trophy, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.

The C Spire Conerly Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding college football player in Mississippi. The winner will be announced Nov. 28 at the Country Club of Jackson.

Judkins, the reigning Conerly Trophy winner from 2022, is in the midst of another excellent season as Ole Miss’ feature back in 2023. Judkins currently has 868 rushing yards (86.8 YPG) and 14 touchdowns on 191 carries, with his 14 rushing scores leading the SEC and ranking fourth nationally. Judkins’ 15 total touchdowns ranks second in the conference and fourth nationally, and per PFF he leads the SEC in both missed tackles forced (51) and yards after contact (653) – the latter of which accounts for 75 percent of his entire season rushing total.

This year, Judkins has four 100-yard rushing games and four games with multiple rushing touchdowns, and he has been especially productive in SEC season with 10 of his 14 rushing scores and a per-game average of 103.3 yards on the ground.

Nationally, Judkins leads all active FBS rushers in career rushing attempts per game (20.2), rushing yards per game (105.9), all-purpose plays per game (21.6) and all-purpose yards per game (117.4). Judkins is also the only active FBS rusher with at least 1,500 career yards (2,435) and a per-game career rushing average in the triple digits (105.9).

Judkins dismantled six single-season records as a freshman in 2022, and he is on the hunt for several season and all-time career records at Ole Miss again in 2023. Judkins’ 14 rushing touchdowns puts him two shy of his own record 16 from last season, making him the only rusher in Ole Miss history with multiple seasons of at least 14 rushing scores. On the career list, Judkins currently ranks second all-time in rushing touchdowns (30), second in 100-yard rushing games (12), second in multi-rushing touchdown games (10), third in all-purpose touchdowns (32), fifth in rushing yards (2,435) and seventh in rushing attempts (465).

Last season, the Pike Road, Alabama native charted the second-best rushing season ever by an SEC freshman, with his school record 1,567 yards trailing only Georgia’s Herschel Walker, who ran for 1,616 in 1980. Judkins was the 2022 CBS National Freshman of the Year and was a consensus first team All-SEC member, and this preseason he was named to the watch lists for the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Doak Walker awards as a consensus preseason All-American.

Named after College Football Hall of Famer and Ole Miss legend Charlie Conerly, the trophy was first conferred in 1996. The Conerly Trophy has been awarded to an Ole Miss player 11 times, more than any other program: Stewart Patridge (1997), Deuce McAllister (1999), Eli Manning (2001, 2003), Patrick Willis (2006), Bo Wallace (2012), Evan Engram (2016), A.J. Brown (2017), Elijah Moore (2020), Matt Corral (2021) and Quinshon Judkins (2022).

2023 C SPIRE CONERLY TROPHY FINALISTS

Alcorn State – QB Aaron Allen
Belhaven – RB Kolbe Blunt
Delta State – QB Patrick Shegog
Jackson State – RB Irv Mulligan
Millsaps – P Ethan Klapatch
Mississippi College – RB Marcus Williams
Mississippi State – LB Bookie Watson
Mississippi Valley State – C Rondey Luckett
Ole Miss – RB Quinshon Judkins
Southern Miss – RB Frank Gore Jr.