Mullin's 614 named top QB performance

Jake Mullin had the only non-Division I perrformance nominated, and won. McMurry athletics photo by Gerald Ewing

McMurry quarterback Jake Mullin pulled off one of the biggest upsets since David slew Goliath by winning the FRS Quarterback Performance of the Year contest. The results of the fan voting (conducted via social media) were announced as a part of the 2012 All-Star Football Challenge show on ESPN2 prior to Sunday's Super Bowl game.

Mullin was joined by several dozen teammates, War Hawk fans and staff to watch the announcement in McM's Campus Center.

“It's awesome,” Mullin said of winning the award. “Hopefully, this gets (the McMurry) name out there even more. I just want to thank everybody who supported me; that voted for me. If it wasn't for them, there's no way I could have done this.

“I'm getting the honor, but it's more of a team thing because the receivers make plays for me and the linemen block. There's no way I could have done it without them.”

Mullin out-distanced such notable weekly winners from the college football season as Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III (Baylor), projected No. 1 NFL draft pick Andrew Luck (Stanford) and next year's Heisman hopeful Matt Barkley (Southern California) to win the award. The junior signal-caller was the only non-NCAA Division I nominee in the voting.

“This is a fantastic honor for both Jake and for McMurry University,” McM coach Hal Mumme said. “Just to have Jake mentioned in the same sentence with some of the names of the other nominees was a high compliment. For him to have won the contest was a testament to Jake's skills and abilities as a quarterback, as well as his knowledge of our offensive system.

Mullin's award-winning performance came last Oct. 15 vs. Texas Lutheran, when he threw for 614 yards and four touchdowns in the War Hawks' 60-16 victory over the Bulldogs.

In that game, Mullin completed 43 of 57 passes with no interceptions, on his way to setting both the school and American Southwest Conference records for passing yards in a game. His efforts also helped the McMurry team set an NCAA III record for total offense in a game with 848 total yards.

Mullin will return for his senior season at McMurry in 2012 and be leading the program as the school's athletics program moves to NCAA Division II beginning in the fall. Mullin was a nominee for the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy as the top player in Division III. Mullin, the ASC Offensive Player of the Year and first-team all-ASC member, passed for 3,371 yards and 29 touchdowns in 11 games while completing 64 percent of his passes. Early in the season, he became McMurry's all-time passing yardage leader and, through three seasons, has amassed 8,979 passing yards and 89 touchdown passes.

“I'm looking forward to Jake being able to showcase his talents at the D-II level next season,” Mumme added. “People are going to see that his 'tools' as a quarterback will transcend whatever level of competition at which he plays.”