Y-Option's Go Go Go Awards - 2024 in Review

The Best of the West. Our distinct take on college football end of season awards and as always, seen through the lens of the West Coast

Coming off Valentine’s Day, we thought it was only fitting to give some love to our top performers from the 2024 season. The results should be no surprise as each were multiple time winners for these weekly awards and left an indelible mark on the national scene of college football.

A reminder on what these awards are: they will honor the top players and coaches from the 2024 season through the eyes of the West Coast. The 4 honors we will give out, just like we did every week of the regular season, go to coaches and players that pump passion into every play and just keep GO GO GO-ing:

• “My 5-Star QB” - whether or not you were a 5-star recruit out of high school, you played like one this season.

• “Go Go Gone” - the most explosive player of the season. Think big chunk plays as explosives and turnovers are the biggest predictor of wins and losses.

• “That Dude!” - player who made an impact on either side of the ball. Not always about your numbers on the stat sheet.

• “Headset Hero” - either a head coach or assistant coach who had their team ready and/or made the right in-game adjustments

Here are our winners for the 2024 season as we keep you in the know and on the GO GO GO!

“My 5-Star QB” - Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel

In the summer of 2018, a young 2-star recruit from Hawaii committed to Army before signing with UCF that fall as coaches around the country took notice. Fast forward to 2025 and Dillon Gabriel is now a Big Ten Champion who has played in more career games and thrown more career TD passes than any QB in FBS history.

A 2-time “My 5-Star QB” winner in the regular season, Gabriel’s lone season in Eugene after transferring from Oklahoma was a roaring success. The 6th year senior led the Ducks to a conference championship in their first season in the Big Ten and a first round bye in the College Football Playoff, going 13-1 with their lone loss to eventual national champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year finished 3rd in the Heisman voting to become the 5th Oregon player to be a finalist for the award and 3rd Ducks QB, joining Bo Nix from last year and his idol Marcus Mariota who won it in 2014. Gabriel finished in the Top 10 nationally in passing yards (3,857, 10th), pass TD (30, T-8th), completion percentage (72.9, 3rd) and passer rating (164.9, 7th).

“Go Go Gone” - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

The 2024 season for Ashton Jeanty began in a meeting room at the Bellagio Casino and Resort. A media day for one - as across town the Mountain West Conference media days were at a casino with a 21-and-over policy and the 20-year-old running back unable to participate. But by the end of the season, Jeanty was a household name to college football fans across the country.

The winner of both the Maxwell Award (top player) and Doak Walker Award (top running back), Jeanty lead the nation in rushing yards with 2,601 which is the 2nd most in CFB history and just 27 yards from matching Barry Sanders single-season record. He rushed for at least 100 yards in all 14 games, topping 200 yards in 6 of them. The junior finished 2nd in the Heisman balloting, appearing on 95% of the total ballots, leading the Broncos to a Mountain West Championship and their 1st appearance in the CFP.

But the “Go Go Gone Award” goes to the most explosive player and Jeanty was clearly that as he won this weekly award 6 times this season. 25 runs of 20+ yards led the country. 12 runs of 50+ yards were more than double any player this year and the most since Stanford’s Bryce Love had 13 in 2017. 5 runs of 70+ yards were again more than double any player this year and the most since Arizona’s Khalil Tate also had 5 in 2017.

“That Dude!” - Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter

When you win the Heisman Trophy for your elite play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, its hard to not choose Colorado’s Travis Hunter for the 2024 “That Dude!” Award. The Buffs megastar became just the 2nd player ever to win the Heisman while playing significant snaps on both sides of the ball, joining Michigan’s Charles Woodson from 1997, while also becoming the 1st player in the 135 years of the Walter Camp All-American Team to be named 1st team on both offense and defense.

Hunter led a Colorado turnaround, from 4-8 and last in the Pac-12 in 2023 to 9-4 and tied for 1st in their first season rejoining the Big 12. A 3-time winner of the weekly “That Dude!” Award, Hunter racked up 15 receiving touchdowns (T-2nd in FBS & a school record) with 96 catches for 1,258 yards (both Top 3 in Colorado history). On defense, he added 36 tackles, 4 interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and a game-winning forced fumble in an overtime win over Baylor. The 7th unanimous All-American in Colorado history, also hit the books as the 2024 Academic All-American of the Year.

The amount of hardware he took home this season was incredible. Hunter became the 1st player to win both the Biletnikoff Award (top receiver) and Bednarik Award (top defensive player). The junior also claimed the AP Player of the Year, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, Lott IMPACT Award (defense) and of course became the first player to win consecutive Paul Hornung Awards (most versatile).

“Headset Hero” - Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham

The impact of Kenny Dillingham in Tempe is tough to truly quantify but we’ll try with this stat. The Sun Devils won 11 games in 2024, almost double of what they had won the previous 2 seasons combined (3-9 in both 2022 & 2023). Picked last in the Big 12’s preseason media poll, Arizona State won the conference championship and made the College Football Playoff while putting the rest of the country on notice that the “sleeping giant” was now fully awake.

It took awhile for the college football world to take notice of Dillingham’s team as they didn’t enter the AP Poll until mid-November when they were 8-2 and that same week debuted in the CFP rankings at #21. But a 6-game win streak culminated with a 45-19 blowout victory of Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game to send ASU to their first ever CFP along with a first round bye.

Dillingham’s spirit fed into his players and especially into All-American Cam Skattebo who finished 5th in the Heisman voting, the best performance by a Sun Devil since Jake Plummer in 1996. In just his 2nd season coaching his hometown team, Dillingham was named Big 12 Coach of the Year as well as a finalist for multiple national Coach of the Year awards.