Football Awards, 2004

2004 season

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

THE ALLEN TROPHY (Heisman): St. Augustine quarterback Jason Forcier. Explanation: Allen (Lincoln), who scored five touchdowns for the Hornets in the 1977 CIF championship game, was San Diego's first Heisman Trophy winner at USC in 1981. He also is an NFL Hall-of-Famer.

RASHAAN SALAAM/RICKY WILLIAMS Award (Doak Walker): Escondido's Darrick Jackson. Explanation: The Doak Walker goes to the nation's best running back, but San Diego has too many Heisman winners to name for one player. Rashaan Salaam (La Jolla Country Day) won it in 1994 and Ricky Williams (Patrick Henry) in 1998.

TEDDY LAWRENCE AWARD (Davey O'Brien): Oceanside quarterback Derek Shaw. Explanation: Davey O'Brien goes to the best quarterback. O'Brien was a little guy at TCU and the 5-foot-9 Lawrence was the Little Big Man for Morse on its 1990 team, considered San Diego's all-time great team that was ranked No. 4 in the nation by USA Today.

DORRELL AWARD (Biletnikoff): La Costa Canyon wide receiver Jon Toledo. Explanation: The nation's top reciever is named for Fred Biletnikoff. Karl Dorrell (Helix), UCLA's head coach, is a trail blazer as an African-American head coach in college football and deserves an award in his honor.

GLOVER TROPHY (Outland): Vista center Thomas Altieri. Explanation: The Outland Trophy goes to the nation's best intereior lineman. La'Roi Glover (Point Loma) caved in a lot of lines in his high school days.

SEAU TROPHY (Nagurski): Oceanside defensive lineman Russell Tialavea. Explanation: The Nagurski is for the nation's best defensive player. Just as Marcus Allen is the obvious choice for the Heisman, Junior Seau (Oceanside) is the only name for the best defensive player.

MULLER AWARD (Lombardi): Serra offense and defensive lineman I.E. AhMu. Explanation: Explanation: Vince Lombardi was a lineman at Fordham long before he became the legendary Green Bay Packers coach. Brick Muller (San Diego High) was the West's first college All-American while playing end for Cal's Wonder Teams.

CHARLIE POWELL AWARD (Ted Hendricks): Monte Vista defensive end Clinton Snyder. Explanation: The Hendricks Award is bestowed up on the nation's top defensive end. Powell, a four-sport athlete at San Diego High in football, basketball, baseball and track and field, was the Southern California Athlete of the of Year in 1950. He played for the San Francisco 49ers and also was a heavyweight boxer who once fought Muhammad Ali.

BUCHANON AWARD (Thorpe): Oceanside cornerback Roberto Wallace. Explanation: The Thorpe Award goes to the best defensive back. Willie Buchanon (Oceanside) is considered by some college football's greatest defensive back and his rookie year at Green Bay is considered one of the finest by an NFL rookie.

JOHNSON/EDWARDS AWARD (Butkus): Carlsbad linebacker Vic So'oto. Explanation: The best linebacker trophy is named for two San Diego NFL backers--Carlsbad's Ted Johnson (Patriots) and Chula Vista's Donnie Edwards (Chargers)--in recognition of their five-figure donations to their rexpective high schools to build college-like weight rooms.

PREFONTAINE AWARD (Groza): St. Augustine kicker Jordan Congdon. Explanation: The Groza goes to the nation's best kicker. Noel Prefontaine (El Camino), a kicker and punter for Toronto in the Canadian Fotoball League, was quarterback/kicker/punter in high school an an All-American punter at San Diego State.

HERB MEYER TROPHY (coach of the year): Oceanside coach John Carroll. Explanation: The coach-of-the-year award is named for California's all-time winningest coach. Meyer retired after 45 seasons as head at Oceanside and El Camino with 338 wins at the end of the 2003 season.

STEPHEN NEAL TROPHY (newcomer of the year): West Hills freshman receiver Raleigh Sevier. Explanation: Neal (San Diego High) has the newcomer-of-the-year award in his honor since the two-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1999 World freestyle wrestling champion made it to the NFL (Patriots) without playing college football.

BILL McCOLL/LaMAR HASBROUCK TROPHY (student-athlete): Monte Vista defensive end Clinton Snyder. Explanation: Snyder, who is committed to Stanford, is considering a career in engineering. Dr. Bill McColl (Hoover) is a Stanford man who played for the Chicago Bears before he performed ground-breaking loprosy research in South Korea in the 1960s. Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck (Crawford) is a Cal man who was a team captain for the Bears. He's now a doctor with the the Centers for Disease Control and served on United Nations medical missions.

DAMON ALLEN/JEROME HAYWOOD AWARD ('tweener): Torrey Pines running back/defensive back Shane Kilcoyne. Explanation: Allen (Lincoln) and Haywood (Castle Park) were considered 'tweeners -- between positions -- when they came out of high school, but both went on to play college football (Allen at Cal State Fullerton, Haywood at San Diego State) and stars in the Canadian Football League.