Vad Lee Wins the Dudley Award

JMU quarterback Vad Lee was awarded the Dudley Award for 2014 this evening. The award recognizes the best Division 1 (sorry Richmond) college football player in the commonwealth of Virginia and was presented to Lee by the Richmond Touchdown Club and Richmond Times Dispatch. Along with Lee, this year’s finalists for the award included ODU quarterback and 2012 Dudley Award winning Taylor Heinicke, and Virginia Tech cornerback Kendall Fuller. Previous winners include Tiki Barber of UVA, Virginia Tech’s Lee Suggs and David Wilson, and the great Rodney Landers of JMU. This is the second year in a row that a JMU player has won after former Dukes linebacker Stephon Robertson took the after honor last season.

In his first year as the JMU QB after transferring from Georgia Tech, Lee earned second team All CAA honors and set multiple school records. He threw for 3,462 yards, tossed 30 touchdowns, and had 4,288 yards of total offense. All three marks established single season records for JMU football. He also became the first JMU passer to throw for over 400 yards in a game, doing it both against Villanova and Richmond.

This was a well deserved honor for Lee. He’s the most dangerous weapon JMU has had on offense in years and the clear leader of the team. Plus, he’s still got one more year of eligibility left, so he’s got a chance to win the Dudley again. And maybe throw in a Payton Award for good measure.