Qadree Ollison and Jordan Whitehead take home ACC Rookie of the Year honors

Something like this really deserved to be mentioned yesterday, but with the Purdue game, that took priority a little. But Pitt running back Qadree Ollison and safety Jordan Whitehead were named the ACC's Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year, respectively on Tuesday.

On Monday Ollison was named to the All-Conference Second Team and Whitehead made the Third Team.

Ollison gave Pitt yet another 1,000-yard rusher as he finished with 1,048 total to help lessen the blow of losing James Conner just a bit. He certainly had some ups and downs but to finish with 1,000+ yards, a 5.1 yard-per-carry average, and ten touchdowns as a redshirt freshman is a pretty nice season. Ollison also caught 12 passes out of the backfield.

Whitehead's year was even bigger in some respects. He was a true freshman and led the team in tackles with 99, adding an interception, six passes defended, and half a sack. He also proved to be a two-way player of sorts with ten carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns on offense. He won the conference's award for Rookie of the Week three times and not only won the Defensive Rookie of the Year, but the ACC's Overall Rookie of the Year. And yes, your guess is as good as mine as to why the ACC needs both Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year to go along with an overall one.

Pitt will have both players for at least two more seasons and that's welcome news as the team will rebuild a bit under new head coach Pat Narduzzi. With expected losses of Tyler Boyd and possibly James Conner, Pitt needs some talent to help remain competitive. In Ollison and Whitehead, they have two players who should be big parts of what they accomplish over the next two (or possibly three) years.

Congratulations are in order for a pair of spectacular seasons.

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