TCU Steve Avila Voted Premier Player of College Football

After a dominant season anchoring the offensive line for the TCU Horned Frogs, Steve Avila has been named the 2022 Premier Player of College Football Award winner.

The Horned Frogs were 5-7 in 2021, and while most thought that the team would improve in 2022, no one was predicting an undefeated run to the Big XII Championship game and the school’s first College Football Playoff berth. Even fewer thought the team would take down the Michigan Wolverines – winners of the vaunted Big Ten – and make it to the National Championship game against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Steve Avila is a fifth-year senior, a player that has seen and done it all with the Horned Frogs. A player who could easily have entered the transfer portal before this season started and found his way to a school “expected” to be more competitive, Avila doubled down and stayed at TCU through a coaching change that could have taken the team in any direction.

It was the right move! That coaching change has seen TCU reach unprecedented heights in the CFP era, and Steve Avila has been a significant part of that run. Already a much coveted offensive lineman thanks to his play in Dallas, Avila has worked tirelessly with new offensive line coach A.J. Ricker to improve and refine his formidable play.

Steve Avila spent the bulk of his TCU career playing at center, but this season has seen him bedded in at left guard. It might not seem like a massive change to those not used to playing in the trenches, but it is a move that could have backfired. Instead, it has been a major success. Avila went the entire regular season – a massive 477 pass-blocking snaps – without allowing a single sack. His presence is why the TCU offense has been so balanced, able to pass or run the ball on any defense, depending on the game situation and what the Horned Frogs need to do to win.

The Michigan game was a great example of this. The Wolverines’ defense came into the matchup allowing just over 85 yards rushing per game, and was 10th in the entire country in total yards allowed. Behind the blocking of Steve Avila and his linemates, TCU rolled for 263 yards on the ground and 488 total yards in their monumental and program-defining 51-45 win.

An offensive lineman rarely captures a trophy that every player in college football is eligible to win. Steve Avila breaks that mold at the end of the 2022 season to be named the 2022 Premier Player of College Football award winner, thanks to his selfless, physical, and dominant style of play.