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Junior tight end Mitchell Wilcox was selected to the 2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List on Friday, his second straight selection for the honor.
The Mackey Award is given out annually to the nation’s most outstanding tight end at the end of the season.
Congrats to @wilcox_mitchell on being named to the @JohnMackeyAward Watch List for the second straight season. https://t.co/cbU7Rtus9W#BullStrong #BayMade pic.twitter.com/ueMOikdslj
— USF Football (@USFFootball) July 20, 2018
Wilcox is coming off a 2017 sophomore campaign in which he hauled in 17 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns in 11 starts.
As we noted in our spring tight ends preview, while his number of targets (29) was up from his Second Team All-AAC season as a freshman (20), both his average yards per target and yards per catch dropped significantly in 2017, partly because of him being used as more of a blocking H-back in the new scheme.
With the transfer of Elkanah Dillon in the offseason, he’ll enter the 2018 season as the only tight end on the roster with any type of significant playing experience with redshirt freshman Frederick Lloyd and true freshman Chris Carter Jr. backing him up.
He is joined by Tulane’s Charles Jones, Memphis’ Joey Magnifico, and Temple’s Kenny Yeboah as Mackey candidates from the AAC.