LSU Tigers Star CB Mansoor Delane Loses Thorpe Award To Ohio State's Caleb Downs

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The LSU Tigers were hoping to secure another Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back, but they won't this year, as it was announced that Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Caleb Downs would be the recipient.

Downs has been a star of the sport since his true freshman campaign with the Alabama Crimson Tide. He was a five-star prospect and one of the top players in the country coming out of high school, and even that seems to undersell just how good he has been.

The Buckeyes went undefeated in the regular season before falling to the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten championship. This was actually the least productive year of Downs' career. He finished with 60 tackles, five for a loss, one sack, two interceptions and two passes broken up.

His quality of play didn't dip at all, but team's started avoiding him more.

That production as a safety is one reason that some believed that Tigers cornerback Mansoor Delane could have had a chance to step in and take home the award.

Delane finished the season with 45 tackles with two interceptions and an SEC-best 11 passes defended. Per Pro Football Focus, he was targeted just 35 times and allowed 12 catches in 358 coverage snaps. He was playing otherworldly this season and could have certainly won the award.

The last LSU player to win the Thorpe Award was Grant Delpit back in 2019. Morris Claiborne and Patrick Peterson won it back-to-back in 2010 and 2011. Now, the next best chance the Tigers will have will lie with breakout star DJ Pickett in the next two seasons.

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