Leading up to this week’s annual Southwestern Athletic Conference Media Day, HBCU Sports will forecast our preseason predictions for the upcoming 2015 season.
Offensive Player of The Year – LaMontiez Ivy– QB – Jackson State
Lost in the tumultuous 2014 season under first-year head coach Harold Jackson was the surprising play of Jackson State quarterback LaMontiez Ivy.
Just a year after missing the 2013 season due to injury, Ivy was up and down during his first full season as starter a year ago.
Jackson preached patience even though Ivy struggled early on to grasp the uptempo, timing-based spread system of offensive coordinator Timmy Chang. It also didn’t help Ivy was playing behind a porous offensive line that gave up 39 sacks and rushing attack that ranked last in the SWAC.
That patience was rewarded, as Ivy completed 64 percent of his passes, threw for 3,209 yards and accounted for 25 touchdowns on his way to being named an All-SWAC second team member.
The junior finished second in passing yards per game, second in total offense, and third in passing efficiency among all SWAC quarterbacks last year.
Ivy, who recently participated in the Manning Passing Academy in attempt to improve his game, figures to be even better come 2015 with another year in the same offense to go along with an improved offensive line wide receiver corps.
