USU football: DE Jacoby Wildman tabbed Wuerffel Trophy nominee

Utah State junior defensive end Jacoby Wildman has been named as a nominee for the 2018 Wuerffel Trophy.

Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy Winner, Danny Wuerffel, the Wuerffel Trophy, “College Football’s Premier Award for Community Service,” is presented in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, annually to the college football player that best combines exemplary community service with academic and athletic achievement.

Wildman is one of eight Mountain West players named to the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List and one of 103 players from college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision nominated for the award. He is also one of just three players from the Beehive State nominated for the award.

The formal announcement of the 2018 recipient will be made at the National Football Foundation’s press conference in New York City on Dec. 4. The presentation of the 2018 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 50th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 15, 2019, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Wildman has appeared in five games for the Aggies this season, recording 12 tackles, including 2.0 sacks. For his career, he has appeared in 29 total games with four starts, tallying 59 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks, to go along with one fumble recovery.

The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Wildman concluded his sophomore campaign in 2017 by ranking first on the team among defensive linemen in tackles for loss with 1.5. Also during the year, he notched a career-high nine tackles against Boise State and had seven tackles and one quarterback hurry against Colorado State.

Off the field, Wildman earned CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII honors, academic all-Mountain West honors and was a Mountain West Scholar-Athlete in 2017, along with earning academic all-Mountain West honors as a redshirt freshman during the 2016-17 academic year. He also spends countless hours working with various groups/organizations on campus and in the community.

Wildman and the Aggies (6-1, 3-0 Mountain West) are back home this week to take on New Mexico (3-4, 1-2) on Saturday, Oct. 27, on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium. The game is slated to kick off at 2 p.m., and will be streamed live on Facebook.