Freshman Defensive, Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Year

2024 Freshman Offense, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Year presented by Chris Doering Mortgage and awarded by the Football Writers Association of America.

Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore, is the Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. Nolan Hauser, South Caolina's LaNorris Sellers is Freshman Player do the Year on the offensive side of the ball while Clemson’s kicker is the Freshman Special Teams Player of the Year.

Leonard Moore, a 6-2, 190-pound true freshman cornerback from Round Rock, Texas, helped the Irish make up for the loss of injured star cornerback Benjamin Morrison in the early season. Moore has nine starts this season, including all three Irish playoff wins, and leads Notre Dame with 10 passes defended, the fifth-best total among FBS freshmen. He also has two forced fumbles, two interceptions, two tackles for loss and is seventh on the team with 43 tackles.

Moore is Notre Dame’s fifth FWAA Freshman All-American in the last six seasons.

LaNorris Sellers, quarterbacked the Gamecocks as a 6-3, 242-pound redshirt freshman, was named to the third-team All-SEC squad and was recognized as the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches. He completed 64.9 percent of his passes (172-for-265) for 2,274 yards and 17 touchdowns. His 655 yards rushing on 155 carries (a 4.2 average) was the third-best total among SEC quarterbacks and his seven rushing touchdowns tied for second among that group. Sellers was a two-time winner of the SEC Offensive Player of the Week award and a two-time recipient of the league’s Freshman of the Week honors.

Together with two other South Carolina players on the FWAA Freshman All-America Team, Sellers is a part of the Gamecocks’ first members on that list since 2011.

Nolan Hauser, a 6-1, 190-pound true freshman from Cornelius, N.C. made 17 of 23 field goals in the regular season while he connected on 56 of 57 extra-point attempts. Hauser booted his career-long 56-yard field goal as time expired to defeat the SMU Mustangs in the ACC Championship Game, 34-31, which sent the Tigers into the CFP. Hauser led Clemson with 106 points in the regular season, he ended the season with 113 . Hauser's 113 points are the fourth-best total among FBS freshmen, seventh-best among all kickers and the 34th highest total among all players.

Clemson led all schools on the FWAA Freshman All-America team with four members. Hauser and the Tigers have now had seven players on the last two teams and have had at least one player on the FWAA’s freshman list the past five seasons.

All-Time FWAA National Freshman Players of the Year
2018: Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (QB)
2019: Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis (RB)
2020: Will Anderson Jr., Alabama (LB)
2021: Brock Bowers, Georgia (TE)
2022: Drake Maye, North Carolina (QB)
2023: Noah Fifita, Arizona (QB); Dillon Thieneman, Purdue (S)
2024: LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina (QB); Leonard Moore, Notre Dame (DB); Nolan Hauser, Clemson (K)