2024 Broyles Award Announcement

STORRS, Conn. – UConn offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis has been named a nominee for the 2024 Broyles Award, which honors college football's top assistant coaches, as announced on Tuesday by the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation.

Sammis is one of 65 nominees in this class, selected from approximately 1,500 assistant coaches representing 131 FBS programs across the country.

In his third season as part of head coach Jim Mora's staff and his first as the team's offensive coordinator, Sammis has guided the UConn offense to an impressive turnaround in 2024. UConn is averaging 31.0 points per game, 47th nationally, up from 19.1 last season and the first time a UConn offense has averaged 30 or more points a game since 2009 (31.2). The Huskies have scored 341 points through 11 games, marking the most points scored since the 2010 season (343).

The rushing attack is back to 2022 form (191.0 ypg) and averaging 193.4 yards per game, up from 136.6 last season. The UConn running game ranks 27th in the nation this season.  The Huskies are averaging 397.6 yards of total offense a game, up from 326.9 last year and at pace for the most since 2017 (415.2 ypg).

Sammis, also the team's offensive line coach the past three season, has the Huskies again excelling at protecting the quarterback, ranking 16th nationally in sacks allowed (1.09 pg) as well as tackles for loss allowed (4.09). His offensive line was named to the Joe Moore Award Mid-Season Honor Roll.  The award is given annually to the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in college football since 2015. His two senior offensive tackles, Chase Lundt and Valentin Senn, have both earned invitations to post season all-star games.  Lundt secured an invited to the Reese's Senior Bowl and Senn to the Hula Bowl.

During his first two seasons in Storrs, he coached an offensive line unit that helped the Huskies rank 33rd in the nation in rushing offense in 2022, averaging 191.0 yards per game.  In the passing game, the UConn offensive line was 29th in the NCAA in sacks allowed that season, allowing just 1.38 per game, and followed that up in 2023 by ranking ninth allowing just 12 sacks all year (1.00 pg).

He coached former UConn offensive guard Christian Haynes who earned Associated Press and Sporting News All-American team honors in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023, just the third Husky in the FBS era to garner All-American honors and the first to do it in consecutive seasons.  Haynes was a third round NFL draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks in last April's draft.

The Broyles Award selection process includes the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), broadcasters, a college football hall-of-fame selection committee, and current college head coaches. The committee will select 15 semi-finalists, five finalists from the list of nominees, and an overall winner.

About the Broyles Award

The Broyles Award was created in 1996 recognizing Coach Frank Broyles' legacy of selecting and developing great assistants during his hall of fame career as head coach at Arkansas. You can follow the Broyles Award onFacebook, X and Instagram.