STANFORD, Calif. — A celebration of Stanford football took place on Sunday morning with the annual end-of-the-year banquet, hosted at McCaw Hall at the Francis C. Arrillaga Alumni Center. With the season wrapped up, Stanford took a moment to recognize the very best from the 2024 season and celebrated the outstanding work done off the field by its student-athletes. Players, coaches, staff and families were in attendance for the private event.
A full list of team awards issued during Sunday morning’s banquet can be found below:
Al Masters Award – Tristan Sinclair
Awarded to the player displaying the highest degree of leadership and respect of his teammates
This award is named for Al Master’s, who served as the athletics director at Stanford for nearly 50 years. It is one of the highest honors a Stanford football player can receive, and Sinclair has now won the award in consecutive seasons. He was voted a game captain three times during the season and found himself on a variety of watch lists, including the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy and Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Watch Lists.
Irving S. Zeimer Award – Ashton Daniels
Awarded to the Offensive Team MVP
Daniels set the Stanford single-season rushing record by a quarterback with 578 yards, proving to be one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in the ACC. He completed 62.7% of his passes with nine touchdowns, adding three more touchdowns on the ground. Finishing the season on a particularly high note, Daniels completed 66.7% of his passes with eight total touchdowns over his last five games. Against NC State on Nov. 2, he tied the single-game rushing record by a Stanford quarterback with 129 rushing yards, joining the great Don Bunce and his performance against Washington State in 1969.
Jack Huston Award – Tristan Sinclair
Awarded to the Defensive Team MVP
Despite missing a game, Sinclair finished his final season as a Cardinal third on the team in tackles with 77, a new career best, and in tackles for loss with 6.5. He also set a career-high in sacks with two, including a Big Game sack for the second year in-a-row, and recovered a fumble. The unquestioned leader of Stanford’s defense, Sinclair finished with double-digits in tackles twice, which helped him finished 15th in the ACC in total tackles.
Jim Reynolds Award – Emmet Kenney
Awarded to the Special Teams MVP
In his first season as Stanford’s placekicker, Kenney excelled. He finished 14-for-17 on field goal attempts and kicked a pair of game-winning field goals as time expired. Both of Stanford's ACC wins have come with Kenney nailing the game-winning field goal. His 52-yard field goal that downed No. 22/19 Louisville was the longest of his career and the second-longest walk-off field in the history of Stanford Stadium. Only Ken Naber made a longer walk-off winner, a 56-yarder on Oct. 6, 1979, against UCLA. Stanford Stadium had not seen a walk-off field goal since Conrad Ukropina's 45-yard field goal that beat No. 6 Notre Dame in 2015.
Tommy Vardell Award – Elic Ayomanor
Awarded to an academic junior or senior player who best epitomizes excellence in both academics and athletics
One of the top wide receivers in the country, Ayomanor tied a career-high in touchdown receptions with six while ranking sixth in the ACC with 831 receiving yards. In just two seasons on The Farm, he ranks 17th in program history in receiving yards. He holds a 3.96 grade point average as a Computer Science major and is a former College Sports Communicator’s First Team Academic All-America selection.
Gundelach Award – Collin Wright
Awarded to the most outstanding junior player
A standout in the secondary, Wright had the best season of his career in 2024, finishing tied for fifth in the ACC in interceptions with a career-high three. His first interception came in the team’s first win of the year against Cal Poly, and then he picked off Cade Klubnik at Clemson in the final game of September. Wright ranked third on the team in passes defended and was the team’s highest-rated member of the secondary per PFF while allowing an opponent’s completion percentage of just 60%.
Deswarte-Eller Award – Elic Ayomanor
Awarded to the most outstanding sophomore player
One of the top wide receivers in the country, Ayomanor tied a career-high in touchdown receptions with six while ranking sixth in the ACC with 831 receiving yards. In just two seasons on The Farm, he ranks 17th in program history in receiving yards. He finished the year with three 100-yard receiving games and had touchdowns in three-straight games in the middle of the season, the first Cardinal to do so since Brycen Tremayne.
Outstanding Freshman Award – Emmett Mosley V
Awarded to the most outstanding freshman player
Mosley burst onto the scene at the midway point of the season to put up some of the best numbers of any ACC receiver down the stretch. He finished his first season with 48 receptions for 525 yards and six touchdowns, posting the most receiving yards by a true freshman wide receiver at Stanford since Richard Sherman in 2006. His breakout game came against No. 22/19 Louisville, where he helped lead Stanford to a ranked win with 13 catches, 168 yards, and three touchdowns. His 13 receptions and three scores are the most by a true freshman receiver in a single game in Stanford history.
Billy Anderson Commitment to Community Outreach Award (Offense) – Mudia Reuben
Awarded to the offensive player who demonstrates a special commitment to community outreach
Reuben started a clean water project in his parents’ home village in Nigeria to ensure safe and clean drinking water through the allocation of funds to build water boreholes. Those boreholes were built in both residential and school areas. He helped organize a soccer event in the Kansas City metro area to serve underprivileged kids and promote the opportunity that sports can bring to a community. Among other service projects, Reuben contributed to a sports equity lab focusing on re-imaging the global consensus on safeguarding and interpersonal violence in sports to create the conditions for women and girls to thrive.
Chris Draft Commitment to Community Outreach Award (Defense/Special Teams) – Zach Buckey
Awarded a defensive or special teams player who demonstrates a special commitment to community outreach
Buckey played an instrumental role in Stanford’s Democracy Day, encouraging participation during the 2024 presidential election. He helped coordinate a panel where Stanford Olympians discussed the values of and importance of civic engagement. Democracy Day as a whole helped register hundreds of Stanford students and staff before the election. Buckey is also the Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Frank Rehm Awards – Ashton Daniels (Offense), Zach Buckey (Defense)
Awarded to the most outstanding players from Big Game
Daniels engineered scoring drives on the first two Stanford possessions to help the Cardinal take a 14-0 lead on the road. He finished the game with 139 yards through the air and a team-best 63 on the ground. Buckey became the first Card with three sacks in a game in 2024 by getting to Fernando Mendoza twice in the first half and once more in the second half. His three sacks were part of six by the defense and easily the most in a game in his Stanford career.
Greg Piers Awards – Kenaj Washington (offense), Maxwell Richardson (defense), Kale Lucas (special teams)
Awarded to the most outstanding offensive, defensive, and special teams scout team players