Kansas State University Athletics
Sean Snyder Named Broyles Award Candidate
Nov 09, 2017 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State Associate Head Coach Sean Snyder, the 2015 National Special Teams Coordinator of the Year, was named one of 56 candidates nationwide for the 2017 Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach.
Snyder, who has coached three of the last four Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year award winners in Tyler Lockett (2013-14) and Morgan Burns (2015), has turned K-State's special teams units into some of the best in the nation which have been a major factor in the Wildcats' continued success and current bowl streak.
This season, the Wildcats rank fifth nationally in kick returns and 14th in punt returns, while place kicker Matthew McCrane has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award and is one field goal shy of tying Wildcat great Martin Gramatica's career school mark of 54 career kicks made. McCrane has also been honored twice this season as the Lou Groza "Star of the Week" and was the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week following the Baylor game.
Punter Nick Walsh is a candidate for the Ray Guy Award and ranks among the top punters in the Big 12 Conference, and D.J. Reed is currently second nationally in kick returns (37.3 avg.).
Reed's return touchdown against Kansas extended K-State's nation-leading streak to 13 years with at least one kickoff return score. Since that streak began in 2005, the Wildcats have returned 24 kickoffs for touchdowns and given up just eight. The last time K-State gave up a kickoff return touchdown was 2013, 58 games and 233 kickoffs ago, and the unit current ranks sixth nationally in kick return defense.
Add in punt-return scores since 2005 and K-State leads the nation with 44 touchdowns off special teams returns, 16 more than the next-closest school.
Under Snyder, K-State also leads the Big 12 in weekly special teams players of the week recipients with 26 since the start of the 2011 season, while the Wildcats have been ranked as the top overall special teams unit nationally on multiple occasions by Phil Steele.
The 56 nominees in this year's class were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 129 Division I programs across the country. For the first time in the award's 22-year history, a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) was also included in the Broyles Award selection process.
An 18-member selection committee of distinguished former head coaches, along with a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will select 15 semifinalists and five finalists from the list of nominees and an overall winner. Those finalists will be invited to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, where the 2017 Broyles Award winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 5, at the Marriott Hotel.
Snyder, who has coached three of the last four Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year award winners in Tyler Lockett (2013-14) and Morgan Burns (2015), has turned K-State's special teams units into some of the best in the nation which have been a major factor in the Wildcats' continued success and current bowl streak.
This season, the Wildcats rank fifth nationally in kick returns and 14th in punt returns, while place kicker Matthew McCrane has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award and is one field goal shy of tying Wildcat great Martin Gramatica's career school mark of 54 career kicks made. McCrane has also been honored twice this season as the Lou Groza "Star of the Week" and was the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week following the Baylor game.
Punter Nick Walsh is a candidate for the Ray Guy Award and ranks among the top punters in the Big 12 Conference, and D.J. Reed is currently second nationally in kick returns (37.3 avg.).
Reed's return touchdown against Kansas extended K-State's nation-leading streak to 13 years with at least one kickoff return score. Since that streak began in 2005, the Wildcats have returned 24 kickoffs for touchdowns and given up just eight. The last time K-State gave up a kickoff return touchdown was 2013, 58 games and 233 kickoffs ago, and the unit current ranks sixth nationally in kick return defense.
Add in punt-return scores since 2005 and K-State leads the nation with 44 touchdowns off special teams returns, 16 more than the next-closest school.
Under Snyder, K-State also leads the Big 12 in weekly special teams players of the week recipients with 26 since the start of the 2011 season, while the Wildcats have been ranked as the top overall special teams unit nationally on multiple occasions by Phil Steele.
The 56 nominees in this year's class were selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 129 Division I programs across the country. For the first time in the award's 22-year history, a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) was also included in the Broyles Award selection process.
An 18-member selection committee of distinguished former head coaches, along with a committee representing the Football Writers Association of America will select 15 semifinalists and five finalists from the list of nominees and an overall winner. Those finalists will be invited to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, where the 2017 Broyles Award winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 5, at the Marriott Hotel.
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