University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Antonio Bryant Earns Another Honor
11/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Antonio Bryant Earns Another Honor
11/6/2000
PITTSBURGH - University of Pittsburgh sophomore Antonio Bryant, who is quickly gaining status as the top receiver in the country, has been named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season.
Bryant (Miami, Fla./Miami Northwestern) earned this week's honor (which he shares with Miami's Santana Moss) after catching eight passes for 212 yards (26.5 avg.), including an 84-yard touchdown, against North Carolina on Saturday. He previously was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week following the Bowling Green (Sept. 9) and Boston College (Oct. 21) games.
A semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, Bryant leads the nation in receiving yards per game (148.86 avg.). Incredibly, he averages over 25 yards more per game than the nation's second-ranked receiver, Freddie Mitchell of UCLA (123.22).
Bryant has five games this year with at least 100 receiving yards - including his last four contests - and two games with over 200 yards. His performance against North Carolina gave him 1,042 yards for the season, making him only the fourth player in Big East history (third in Pittsburgh history) to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. With three games to go, Bryant needs just 90 yards to break the Big East single-season record of 1,131 set by Marvin Harrison of Syracuse in 1995.
Bryant has 52 catches on the year, an average of 7.43 per game, which ranks sixth nationally. He averages 20.0 yards per catch.
Pittsburgh now has nine Big East Player of the Week awards this season. In addition to Bryant's three awards, the Panthers' other honorees include quarterback John Turman (Oct. 23), quarterback/kick returner Rod Rutherford (Sept. 25), linebacker Gerald Hayes (Sept. 25), defensive end Bryan Knight (Sept. 11 and Sept. 18) and placekicker Nick Lotz (Sept. 4).
Pittsburgh (5-3 overall, 2-2 Big East) plays at second-ranked Miami (7-1, 4-0) this Saturday. The game will kick off at noon and be nationally televised by ESPN 2.
