DeVonta Smith becomes the first WR to win the AP award

Alabama’s DeVonta Smith is the Associated Press’s Player of the Year in 2020.

Smith was named the best college football player by the Associated Press on Tuesday. He is the first wide receiver to receive the award.

According to the AP, he beat teammate Mac Jones for the honor. Smith and Jones are among the four finalists for the Heisman Trophy. This award will be awarded on January 5 to Smith, Jones, Trevor Lawrence of Clemson or Kyle Trask of Florida.

Smith is the only Heisman finalist who is not a quarterback. And if he wins Heisman, he will be the first recipient since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991 to win the award.

Smith has been the most dominant wide receiver in college football this season. He has 98 receptions for 1,511 yards and 17 touchdowns and also ran for a TD and returned a punt for a touchdown in 2020. He put those statistics on when Alabama lost WR Jaylen Waddle to an ankle injury in the middle of the season.

Smith returned to Alabama for his senior season in 2020 after getting 68 passes for 1,256 yards and 14 TDs as a junior in 2020. He became famous in Alabama’s freshman tradition when he received the touchdown pass for the national title victory. Tua Tagovailoa in overtime against Georgia in January 2018.

Lawrence finished third in the AP vote while Trask was fourth. Smith obtained 26 of the 49 first-place votes, while Jones and Lawrence each obtained nine first-place votes.

ARCHIVE - This Saturday, December 19, 2020, photo archive, Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) runs against Florida during the first half of the NCAA Southeast Conference championship football game in Atlanta.  Smith was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.  Heisman will be awarded on January 5 during a virtual ceremony, as the pandemic forced the cancellation of the usual trip to New York for the presentation that normally comes with being one of the finalists.  (AP Photo / Brynn Anderson, Archives)
DeVonta Smith will have 100 catches this season if he gets at least two passes against Notre Dame. (AP Photo / Brynn Anderson, Archives)

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