McKinley High School graduate Harold Fannin Jr. continues to collect All-American honors for his historic season as a tight end for the Bowling Green football team.
Fannin received recognition from an NCAA-recognized All-American team for the fifth time with his inclusion Wednesday on the The Sporting News second team.
The second-team nod ends Fannin’s run for unanimous All-American, as he would have needed to earn a first-team honors from the five organizations recognized by the NCAA to earn that title. Fannin currently has four out of the five, which makes him an unofficial consensus first-team All-American. The NCAA is expected to announce the official consensus team Thursday.
Fannin earned first-team All-American status at tight end from The Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Associated Press and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-American teams. The Football Writers Association of America also gave him a first-team nod, but at wide receiver instead of tight end.
Fannin has received All-American honors from several other organizations, too, including USA Today and Sports Illustrated. And Pro Football Focus not only selected him as its All-American tight end but has him as the highest graded football player in the nation. His overall grade of 95.9 is the highest ever by a tight end in PFF’s 11 years of grading college football players.
It’s all part of a remarkable season by the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Fannin.
He ranks No. 2 in the nation with 1,342 receiving yards and leads all tight ends nationally in more than 20 offensive categories, including receiving yards, catches (100), yards after catch (750), first downs (64), broken tackles (31) and receiving touchdowns (9).
With a bowl game remaining next week, Fannin is 11 yards shy of the FBS record for single-season receiving yards by a tight end. Texas Tech’s Jace Amaro set the mark at 1,352 yards in 2013. Fannin already tops the all-time list for the most regular-season receiving yards by a tight end. Fannin is the third FBS tight end to catch 100 passes in a season and Rice’s James Casey holds that record with 111 catches in 2008.
Though he missed out on unanimous All-American, Fannin is poised to become the first Bowling Green football player to earn consensus All-American status.
All-American status is an accolade bestowed upon excelling collegiate athletes. The NCAA recognizes five organizations which pick teams considering all college players in the country, and their selections are given the honor. Athletes awarded with All-American status are considered to be among the best in the nation.
In order to earn consensus All-American status, players currently have to be selected for first team on at least three of the five organization’s lists.
Being selected an All-American are not the only honors for Fannin in 2024. The junior also earned three weekly John Mackey Awards this season for outstanding performances. He was also a finalist for the annual John Mackey Award this year. The award is named after the late Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end.
Fannin also was the Mid-American Conference’s overall player of the year and offensive player of the year.
Fannin wraps up his 2024 season when the Falcons play Arkansas State in the 68 Ventures Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 26. The game is at 9 p.m., and will be televised by ESPN.
