SEC reveals 2024 individual football award winners

The SEC released an array of football honors and individual awards on Wednesday, from coach of the year to freshman of the year. And seven of the 16 teams in the league have a player or coach represented in some way in the end-of-season awards.

The SEC will also release a freshman all-conference team on Thursday. The conference’s individual awards are voted on by the 16 head coaches.

See the full array of individual honors below.

Coach of the year: Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea

Lea led Vanderbilt to a 6-6 record and the first bowl berth for the Commodores since 2018. But the high of the 2024 campaign was a home win against No. 1 Alabama.

For their efforts, Vanderbilt will face Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27.

Offensive player of the year: Tennessee RB Dylan Sampson

Along with helping his squad to the College Football Playoff, Sampson set a number of Tennessee records in 2024. He also heads into the CFP leading the SEC in yards per game on the ground with 123.8.

In the 2024 season, Sampson broke Volunteer records for rushing yards (1485), rushing touchdowns (22) and points scored (132). He also rushed for more than 100 yards 10 times.

Defensive player of the year: South Carolina EDGE Kyle Kennard

Kennard already earned some national honors as the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, given to the best defensive player in college football. And Kennard certainly has a strong case.

He finished the regular season with 15.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 of them sacks. Both those marks led the SEC and his sack total was in the Top 10 nationally.

Special teams player of the year: Kentucky K Alex Raynor

Raynor is already a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to the nation’s best kicker. He also broke his own school record for field goal make percentage in a season, hitting 93.8% in 2024.

Raynor started the year 15-of-15 and only missed his last try of the year, finished 15-of-16.

Freshman of the year: South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers

Sellers turned out to be the prince who was promised, for the most part, for South Carolina. He helped lead the Gamecocks to a 9-3 campaign and the edge of College Football Playoff contention.

And Sellers did it as a dual-threat, tallying 2274 passing yards and 17 touchdowns through the air and adding 655 rushing yards and seven more scores.

Newcomer of the year: Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia

One big reason Lea won coach of the year: His transfer quarterback. Along with bringing a distinct dual-threat ability to the Vanderbilt attack, Pavia’s brash persona inevitably seeped into various corners of the program.

He helped guide Vanderbilt to some historic highs in 2024. And this award might best be shared with Jerry Kill, on the Commodores staff after coming from New Mexico with Pavia.

Jacobs Blocking Trophy: Texas OT Kelvin Banks, LSU OT Will Campbell

The SEC has two of the best tackles in college football, and both of them were honored in 2024. It will potentially be the final year of college for both, as the NFL awaits.

Both have been starters since the moment they arrived on campus, and both have thrived. Banks is currently trying to get healthy for the Longhorns ahead of the CFP.

Scholar-athlete of the year: Missouri QB Brady Cook

With his undergraduate degree already in tow, Cook is pursuing his MBA. He’s been a semifinalist for a national academic award for college athletes and repeatedly been on the SEC honor roll.

And on the field, he helped lead the Tigers to a 9-3 campaign in his final year of college football