Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list includes Arizona WR Jacob Cowing

Could Jacob Cowing end up being the best wide receiver in college football this season? The award that honors that player thinks it’s possible.

Cowing is one of 43 players on the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given annual to the top pass catcher in the country. It’s the second preseason watch list the transfer from UTEP has made, along with the one for the Maxwell Award given to college football’s top overall player.

He is also one of the 10 UA players eligible to play in the East-West Shrine All-Star game after the season.

The 5-foot-11 Cowing is coming off a tremendous 2021 season, his third at UTEP, in which he had 69 catches for 1,354 yards along with seven touchdowns. To put that in perspective, Arizona’s top three targets last year combined for 1,376 yards.

A native of Marciopa, Ariz., about an hour to the northwest of Tucson, Cowing picked the UA over the likes of ASU, Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oregon and South Carolina.

Arizona has never had a Biletnikoff finalist since the award was created in 1994, but it’s faced many. The Wildcats will face the reigning winner this season in Jordan Addison, who won it last season at Pittsburgh but has since transferred to USC.