Peat and Orchard Named 35th Morris Trophy Winners

SAN FRANCISCO — Offensive tackle Andrus Peat of STANFORD and defensive end Nate Orchard of UTAH have been named winners of the 35th annual Morris Trophy.

The Morris Trophy is given annually to the most outstanding offensive and defensive linemen in the Pac-12 Conference. What makes the award unique is the selection procedure, in which the league’s starting offensive linemen vote for the defensive winner and vice versa. It is truly a players’ award.

Peat, a 6-foot-7, 316-pound junior from Chandler, Ariz., is a All-Pac-12 first team selection and earned first team All-America honors by ESPN.com and CBS Sports. In addition, he was selected a Walter Camp All-America second team honoree. He has started 26 consecutive games since taking over the starting left tackle job for the 2013 season opener. With Peat at left tackle, Stanford led the Pac-12 by allowing only 22 sacks this season (1.83 per game), which was 18 fewer than the Cardinal recorded on defense. Peat is the fourth Cardinal, and third offensive lineman to earn the award, joining Willie Howard (1999), Kwame Harris (2002), and David Yankey (2012).

Orchard, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound senior from Salt Lake City, Utah, earns the award after a record-breaking season for the Utes. He paced the Pac-12 with an FBS-leading 1.46 sacks per game as he piled up a school-record 17.5 sacks on the way to earning Walter Camp first team All-America and All-Pac-12 first team honors. Orchard, who has played in all 49 games in four seasons with 35 starts, was second on the squad with 81 tackles (6.8 per game), and was fourth in the FBS with 20.0 tackles for loss (1.7 per game). He earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week twice during the 2014 season and is the second Ute to win the Morris Trophy, joining former teammate Star Lotulelei (2011).

The Morris Trophy is sponsored by the Washington Athletic Club, the 101 Club, Athletic Awards and the Morris Trophy Foundation. It was created by Traci (Morris) Drake in 1980 and named after her father, G. Patrick Morris. Peat and Orchard will be presented their awards at a luncheon at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle on Thursday, January 15, 2015. Contact Darin Barr (dbarr@wac.net), Washington Athletic Club, for banquet information.

For a list of past winners, visit www.morristrophy.com