Former St. Joseph (HS) and Monmouth University Standout Jaden Shirden Named Walter Camp 2023 FCS Player of the Year

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Former St. Joseph High School and Monmouth University running back Jaden Shirden (West Haven, CT) has been selected as Walter Camp’s 2023 Football Championship Subdivision Player of the Year.  This is the first year the Walter Camp Foundation has given this award.

Shirden, the two-time Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Year, finished the 2023 regular season as the nation’s leading rusher for the second consecutive season.  Entering the year at seventh on Monmouth’s all-time rushing yardage list, Shirden’s 1,478 yards on the ground in 2023 saw him rise to third, and his 10 touchdowns on the season brought him into the program’s top-10.  The junior notched seven 100+ rushing yard games including two games eclipsing the 250 mark.

Shirden’s biggest game came at home on October 14 against Hampton where he ran for 276 yards and scored a career-best four touchdowns – including a 63-yard score and 72-yard score – on 16 carries. Two weeks later at nationally-ranked William & Mary, Shirden ran for two touchdowns while notching 251 yards on 21 carries.

Shirden, who finished third in the Walter Payton Award voting, announced he was declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft in December.

Shirden played scholastically for head coach Joe DellaVecchia at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull.   Shirden was a two-time Walter Camp All-Connecticut honoree and led the Cadets to the 2019 Class L state title.

Shirden will be honored, along with the members of the 2023 Walter Camp All-America Team, Player of Year Jayden Daniels (LSU), Coach of Year Kalen DeBoer (Washington… now at Alabama) and Connecticut Players of the Year Tyler Van Dyke and Justin Barron at the Foundation’s 57th National Awards Gala on Saturday, March 16 in New Haven.   National Awards Gala tickets are $350 and available at https://waltercamp.org/product/awards-dinner/

Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.