Anthony Miller named to Mackey watch list

BETHPAGE, NEW YORK -- Anthony Miller was named to the preseason watch list for the John Mackey Award released by the Nassau County Sports Commission on Wednesday. The award is given annually to the country's best tight end. He was also previously named to the watch list for the 2011 College Football Performance Awards Tight End Trophy.

Miller, who is on the watch list for the second straight season, has played in 33 career games with 21 starts, compiling totals of 40 receptions for 511 yards receiving and two touchdown catches. He contributed 13 receptions for 152 yards and a touchdown catch as a junior in 2010 after a 2009 sophomore campaign in which he was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection after compiling 26 receptions for 357 yards to rank third on the team in both categories.

The 2011 John Mackey winner selected by vote of the John Mackey Award Selection Committee will be presented live at the Home Depot ESPN College Football Awards Red Carpet Show on December 8, 2011 at 6 p.m. EST/3 p.m. PST on ESPNU.

NFL Hall of Fame member John Mackey is considered to be the best to have played the tight end position. A tight end by whom all others are measured, Mackey was a role model on and off the field as demonstrated by his Super Bowl Championship, his commitment to community and his place in history as the first President of the NFLPA.

The John Mackey Award presented since 2000, lists 10 NFL players as alumni: Dallas Clark ('01) of the 2006 Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts; two-time Super Bowl champion Daniel Graham ('02); Kellen Winslow II ('03) of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers; two-time Super Bowl Champion Heath Miller ('04) of the Pittsburgh Steelers; Marcedes Lewis ('05) of the Jacksonville Jaguars; 2008 Super Bowl Champion Matt Spaeth ('06); Fred Davis ('07) of the Washington Redskins; Chase Coffman ('08) of the Cincinnati Bengals; Aaron Hernandez ('09) of the New England Patriots; and the 2010 John Mackey Award recipient D.J. Williams of the Green Bay Packers.