ATLANTA, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- It's official. College football fans are hooked on University of Texas quarterback Vince Young. After turning in one of the best seasons ever for a Longhorns quarterback and leading the team to a berth in the national championship game, Young has been selected as the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year, the only major college football award determined exclusively by the fans. He was announced as the winner during the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Awards Show at the Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando.
Young, who tied a record by winning three Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week awards in 2005, passed for over 2,700 yards, rushed for over 800 and accounted for 35 touchdowns in leading the Longhorns to the Big XII title. He beat out USC running back Reggie Bush, USC quarterback Matt Leinart and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn for the Player of the Year trophy. He is the second consecutive Texas player to claim this honor, joining former Longhorns running back Cedric Benson, who was selected as the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year in 2004.
"Vince Young had a spectacular year and he is an extremely worthy recipient of the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year award," said Marc Lefar, chief marketing officer for Cingular Wireless. "The outstanding qualifications of each of the four finalists are indicative of what a wonderful college football season it has been. Cingular was proud to empower college football's true experts -- the fans -- and allow them to select this year's winner."
All Player of the Year nominees were selected by a panel of ABC Sports and ESPN college football analysts and put on a ballot for the fans to vote on. Young received 49% of the fan votes, beating out Bush (31%), Quinn (16%) and Leinart (4%). His winning margin was the largest in the history of the award.
The Cingular Wireless/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Year is the final award in the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week program. Fans had from December 1 until December 4 to text-message in their votes. The program culminated with the airing of the Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Show on December 10 in a one-hour special on ABC Sports. In addition to Young being presented with the Player of the Year award, the college football All- America team, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America, was announced.
The 2005 Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week program spanned thirteen weeks during the college football regular season. Young led all the players with three Player of the Week awards, followed by Quinn, who had two. Below is the full list of winners.
2005 Cingular/ABC Sports All-America Player of the Week Winners
