Awards are tricky.
Some people will be joyful for winning awards, while their friends take to social media to post about the accomplishment. Others use the awards as motivation for their next season. Some get bitter, and hateful.
And as we announce our awards for some of the smaller classes of South Dakota, we hope to have more of the first part, and less of the last. So we decided to be 100% honest and open about our awards.
LINEMEN
First, when deciding awards, we contacted every single coach in South Dakota, sometimes more than once. We have a large database of statistics and information to go over, as well as seeing over 100 games this year as a staff, including all 7 state championships! We saw a lot of great talent and wanted to recognize that talent, staying away from the politics that sometimes control other awards.
And by staying objective, we choose not to give out an Offensive Lineman of the Year award. At first, it was an all-inclusive Lineman of the Year award, meant to represent the best of the 605 Hogs. We named it the DL of the Year, purely because that was the information we are working with. There was a lot of good offensive lineman in the state, but we did not want the award to be giving purely off of “who is going where in college.”
If that were the case, then we might as well give out the award at the beginning of the year. We didn’t want to do that, so that is our reasoning not giving out an OL of the Year award. We figured that since many play both sides of the ball in South Dakota, our DL of the Year award would include many of those great Offensive Linemans.
All-inclusive lineman of the year awards are common around the country, as many become troubled with the limited and rare stats kept for offensive lineman.
So, yes, we appreciate lineman, you guys are what keep the ball moving! You can’t have a great team without a great line! So we thought that the best way we could represent some of this group was the DL of the Year award. Should it have been named the Lineman of the Year award? Sure. But we would have giving the award to the same talented players we already did.
So no matter what the award is named, just know that we respect the dudes putting the work in the trenches, and we hope that next season we will be able to include shoutouts more of the “605 Hogs” that make South Dakota football what it is!
RECEIVERS
We want to clarify a little about the awards for Receivers. We originally named the Receiver award “WR of the Year” even though it included both Wide Receivers and Tight Ends.
A little naive again, but some were confused and thought Tight Ends weren’t included. They were, and are, included in the awards. We even might have a Tight End getting the award in one of the 9-man classes. So, just note that this award includes anyone who primarily receives the ball via the pass, including Tight Ends.
HONORABLE MENTION LIST
Again, another name that probably wasn’t 100% clear. This honorable mention list features 10 players who we felt deserved recognition, but didn’t get an award in any of our categories. These were players that were 1) Just behind someone else in that award or 2) Would have had a good argument to win the award in a different year. They are just stuck behind someone who had a ridiculous season.
At first, we titled this “HM Skill Players” but by Skill Players, we also included everyone on Defense, D-Linemen included. So really, because of what was posted earlier in this article, this means that since the vast majority of linemen play both ways, this name doesn’t reflect the award quite like what we meant. So we just changed it to Honorable Mention Players.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you don’t win an award, it doesn’t mean we didn’t think you had a good season. In fact, we were wildly impressed with how fun and talented South Dakota football was.
Sometimes, we had to choose to give an award to a kid over another. It’s a tough decision and one we don’t take lightly. So even if you did not get an award, we ask you don’t be spiteful. We appreciate you caring about our awards, and we appreciate you being apart of this awesome community!
We also hope that we will be able to shout you out in another sport, or even next season if you are an underclassmen.
Now, finally, shout out to the coaches you sent us stats. We appreciate that so much. And to all the players, fans, and anyone else reading this, we hope that you enjoy the awards, and we thank you for welcoming us into the South Dakota football community.
-TK
CEO of Digital Z Sports