PHILADELPHIA – University of South Alabama wide receiver Jalen Tolbert is among the 80 individuals included on the initial Watch List for the 85th Maxwell Award, which is presented annually to the outstanding player in college football.  The announcement was made Monday by the Maxwell Football Club.

Having already been recognized on four preseason All-America teams and as a first-team preseason all-Sun Belt Conference selection by four different organizations, Tolbert is coming off a year in which he was named first-team all-league after concluding the 2020 campaign with 64 receptions for 1,085 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.

In addition to finishing as one of 11 1,000-yard receivers in the nation — including one of only two in the SBC — the junior from Mobile set new school season standards for receptions and yards receiving while both he and former teammate Kawaan Baker established the current mark for touchdown catches.  He ended up second in the Sun Belt in both receptions and receiving yards per game as well as seventh in all-purpose yards per outing.

Tolbert was chosen the Maxwell Award Player of the Week after posting six catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns in a defeat of Southern Mississippi to open the year.  He also claimed conference Player-of-the-Week honors for the performance, an award he won again later in the season following a 10-reception, 252-yard performance — which not only broke the school game record in the latter category but included three catches for scores — in a victory at Arkansas State.

The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert "Tiny" Maxwell, who was a former standout at the Swarthmore College and a renowned sports writer and football official.  

Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced on Nov. 1, while the three finalists for the honor will be unveiled Nov. 22.  The winner of the 2021 Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 9.  The formal presentation of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Tropicana Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on March 11, 2022.

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