Leftwich nominee for 2023 Broyles award

Texas State offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich was named a nominee for the 2023 Broyles Award, which is an annual honor given to the best assistant coach in college football.

Leftwich, who works with the Texas State quarterbacks in addition to his play-calling duties, was one of 57 nominees announced by the Broyles Foundation on Tuesday for this year’s award.

Leftwich helped take over an offense that averaged only 21.1 points per game while 325.2 yards per game while the Bobcats limped to a 4-8 record during the 2022 season.

In his first season as the Bobcats’ offensive coordinator, Leftwich has helped lead Texas State to being the Sun Belt Conference’s top offense and one of the best units in the nation. The Bobcats are averaging a Sun Belt-best 34.9 points per game, which is 21st in the country, and 463.1 yards per game, which is 13th in the nation. The offense is powered by a run game that ranks 16th in the country with 200.7 yards per game.

Texas State’s offense features key players such as quarterback TJ Finley, who is 208-of-302 with 2,553 yards and 18 touchdowns in 10 games. Finley’s top weapons have been running back Ismail Mahdi and his 1,050 rushing yards and 1,645 all-purpose yards along with three receivers with more than 500 yards each. Texas State’s leading receiver is Joey Hobert who has 64 catches for 804 yards and seven touchdowns.

Finley, Mahdi and Hobert are also set to enter the Texas State record books as all three players are set to finish in the top ten all time categories in passing yards, rushing yards, and receiving yards in a single season.

Finley and Hobert are also set to enter the top ten in both passing touchdowns and receiving touchdowns in a single season.

Finley (Manning Award, Davey O’Brien Award), Mahdi (Hornung Award) and Hobert (Biletnikoff Award) are all on national award watch lists thanks to their performances in the Texas State offense.

This year’s Bobcat offense is on pace to be the best in the program’s FBS history in several statistical categories.

Leftwich is one of seven nominees for this year’s Broyles Award in the state of Texas and one of four from the Sun Belt.

The Broyles Award, which has been celebrating excellence in assistant coaching since 1996, will announce its semifinalists on Tuesday, Nov. 21 and finalists on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Ark.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord. com Twitter: @ColtonBMc