Levis (Kentucky) and Van Dyke (Miami) Selected as Walter Camp’s 2021 Connecticut Players of Year, presented by Talent Champions Council
Kentucky junior quarterback Will Levis (Madison, CT/Xavier HS) and Miami redshirt freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke (Glastonbury, CT/Suffield Academy) are the recipients of the Walter Camp 2021 Connecticut Player of Year award, presented by Talent Champions Council.
The award is presented to the top college football player(s) who is a resident and/or played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The award is voted on by the Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
Will Levis, Quarterback, University of Kentucky (Madison, CT/Xavier HS)
Levis started in all 13 games and helped lead UK to 10 wins for the fourth time in school history. He totaled 3,202 yards of total offense and was just the seventh player in school history to reach 3,000 yards total offense in a season. Levis completed 233 of 353 passes for 2,827 yards (66.0) and 24 touchdown throws. He added 376 yards and a team-high tying nine rushing touchdowns.
Levis ranked in the top 10 in several statistical categories in the Southeastern Conference, including fourth in offense touchdowns (33), sixth in total offensive yards (3,203), total passing yards (2,827), and passing touchdowns (24). Levis played scholastically for Xavier High School in the Southern Connecticut Conference.
Tyler Van Dyke, Quarterback, University of Miami (Glastonbury, CT/Suffield Academy)
A redshirt freshman, Van Dyke was thrust into a starting role and completed 202-of-324 passes (62.3%) for 2,931 yards and 25 touchdowns. He had six straight games of throwing three or more touchdown passes. Miami was 5-1 in those games. Van Dyke’s best game came on Oct. 30 in a win over nationally-ranked Pittsburgh when he completed 32-of-42 for 426 yards and three touchdowns.
Van Dyke played scholastically for at Suffield Academy, and led the team to an undefeated season and the NEPSAC Class A Championship in 2019.
Levis and Van Dyke will be honored, along with the members of the 2021 Walter Camp All-America Team, Player of Year Kenneth Walker III (Michigan State) and Coach of Year Luke Fickell (Cincinnati) at the Foundation’s 56th National Awards Gala, presented by 777 Partners, on Saturday, March 12 at Yale University’s Schwarzman Center.
National Awards Gala tickets are $450 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 (www.waltercamp.org,@WalterCampFF) – 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. The Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s website, www.ncfaa.org