2024 CBS Sports college football awards: Travis Hunter honored, two coaches receive much-deserved recognition

We always new the 2024 season would be unlike any other in college football history with massive conference realignment kicking in and the onset of a new 12-team College Football Playoff creating a brand new national landscape for the sport. But even the wildest visions of what could be in 2024 might have fallen short of the chaos we encountered and drama that unfolded along the way. 

Due to a multitude of reasons that include the transfer portal, NIL and increasing investment in the sport across the board, 2024 was a season that put parity on full display. Top teams suffered stunning losses seemingly every week, but by season’s end, it seemed to reveal something about college football that’s changed … at least in 2024. 

The good teams aren’t nearly as good as we’re used to, and the bad teams aren’t nearly as bad. The compression of the sport, at least at the power conference level, has produced an environment where any program is not that far from reaching the top and teams at the top are more vulnerable than ever to being taken down. 

That thought of parity of compression is reflected in our year-end awards, which is light on blue bloods and absent of quarterbacks. This was a season where teams that were predicted to finish near the bottom of the standings contended for conference championships and the Player of the Year race has been focused on once-in-a-generation talents from outside the traditional powers. As we look at that first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, we see some of the familiar names from the four-team format but also programs that were far from the national title picture in previous years getting their chance to earn it on the field. 

So as we celebrate some of the outstanding individuals from the 2024 season with our year-end awards, we do so acknowledging that the sport is more inclusive and unpredictable than ever, and that’s probably a good thing. 

One way that we crystalize every season is by honoring the best and brightest. When we remember 2024, these names will be some of the first that come to mind. Check out our Player of the Year, Coach(es) of the Year and Freshman of the Year below, and don’t miss our 2024 CBS Sports All-America team released earlier this week. 

2024 CBS Sports college football awards 

Player of the Year: Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado

This was an incredible year for incredible college football players. We entered the season without a consensus as to who the top quarterback in the country would be, and four months later, we still didn’t know. What we did know was that we haven’t seen anybody like Travis Hunter in a long time. Yes, we’ve seen two-way players before, but those like Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey were really guys who played on one side of the ball and dabbled elsewhere. Not Hunter. Not only was Travis Hunter one of the top wide receivers in the country, catching 92 passes for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns, but he was also one of the best cornerbacks, picking off four passes and finishing with 11 passes defended, even though he was rarely targeted. We haven’t seen a player the likes of Hunter in the modern era of the sport, and it’s hard to say when we’ll see one again. — Tom Fornelli

Co-coach of the Year: Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Curt Cignetti: We knew that Curt Cignetti was a winner at every level — “Google me,” as he’d say — and also that he had plenty of power conference experience that could be applied from his time at Pitt, NC State and Alabama. But even the highest expectations for Indiana in 2024 fell short of what the Hoosiers accomplished during a program-changing 11-1 campaign that revealed to the good folks in Bloomington what could be accomplished in the modern era with the right investment and the right coach in place. 

Cignetti brought plenty of pieces from his successful stint at James Madison, both on the field and on the sideline, but he also showcased a strong eye for talent and fit as he built out a roster that absolutely pummeled its opponents. Indiana’s +344 points margin (28.7 points per game) was the best in the country, and there was a ruthlessness and efficiency to the way the Hoosiers handled their business on both sides of the ball that reflected the attention-to-detail enforced by their head coach. Cignetti clearly set a standard for performance that impacted the way Indiana not only handled games on a week-to-week basis but also handled success the program had not seen since the 1960s. Lots of teams get off to unexpected hot starts, but handling that and finishing the job is far less common. 

And that’s one reason why college football as a whole acknowledged that Cignetti is uncommon. He may be a football lifer from a football family, but right now he has his finger on the  pulse of how to coach up and manage the modern player in a way that plenty of his peers are still trying to figure out. He may be 63 years old with 40 years of coaching experience, but few coaches have adapted to the times quite like Cignetti. — Chip Patterson

Kenny Dillingham: Dillingham went 3-9 in his first season with the Sun Devils. Arizona State then lost over 30 scholarship players to the transfer portal, including leading wide receiver Eljhah Badger, top tight end Jalin Conyers and key defender BJ Green. 

Logically, Arizona State was picked to finish last in the preseason Big 12 media poll. But behind transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt and all-star running back Cam Skattebo (who I maintain should have been a Heisman Trophy finalist), Arizona State blew all expectations out of the water. 

It started the year with a 2-2 record in conference play and then proceeded to win five straight games to secure a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. There, the Sun Devils beat the first Iowa State team to ever win 10 regular season games by 26 points. Rightfully, ASU earned a top-four seed and first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. 

All of this for a team that was, again, picked to finish dead-last in its own conference. If that isn’t coach of the year material, then this writer isn’t sure what qualifies. — Will Backus

Freshman of the Year: Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State 

Ohio State has been a wide receiver factory for years, but expectations were nearly unprecedented for Smith, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country. Smith rated as the No. 1 overall receiver recruit of all time, according to 247Sports, and was expected to quickly replace Biletnikoff winner Marvin Harrison Jr. on a national championship hopeful. 

Somehow, Smith has exceeded every expectation. The Opa Locka, Florida, native shattered all of Cris Carter’s Ohio State freshman records, posting 57 catches for 934 yards and 10 touchdowns. He cleared 100 yards three times, including in a sensational 100-yard performance against No. 1 Oregon. The freshman had a particular penchant for highlight-reel, one-handed catches, going viral several times over the course of the season. 

Smith finished the regular season No. 30 nationally in receiving yards. Only one other freshman, Alabama’s Ryan Williams, was in the top 100. If Smith entered the NFL Draft today, he would almost certainly be a top-10 pick and start in the NFL next year. Instead, Ohio State gets to enjoy two more seasons of his handiwork. With more experience and development, Smith could become the first wide receiver to go No. 1 in the NFL Draft since Keyshawn Johnson in 1996. — Shehan Jeyarajah