For the second-straight season, a league freshman has been named the Missouri Valley Football Conference's top offensive player as QB Mark Gronowski of South Dakota State has been named the 2020-21 MVFC Offensive Player of the Year.  Gronowski also earned the league's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year honors.  Jared Brinkman of UNI has been named MVFC Defensive Player of the Year, And coach Bobby Petrino of Missouri State has been tabbed MVFC Coach of the Year.

2020-21 MVFC All-Conference Teams (PDF)

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  QB Mark Gronowski, South Dakota State
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  DL Jared Brinkman, UNI
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR:  QB Mark Gronowski, South Dakota State (full all-Newcomer Team announced on Friday, April 23)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:  QB Mark Gronowski, South Dakota State (full all-Newcomer Team announced on Friday, April 23)
‘BRUCE CRADDOCK’ VALLEY FOOTBALL COACH OF THE YEAR:  Bobby Petrino, Missouri State





Gronowski, a Jerry Rice Award finalist, follows NDSU's Trey Lance (2019) as the only league freshmen to earn the MVFC's top offensive honor, and he's the fifth freshman to win both the league's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year honors.  Previous first-year players to sweep those two awards include QB Sawyer Kollmorgen (UNI) in 2012, RB Martin Ruiz (YSU) in 2013, LB Jabril Cox (NDSU) in 2017, and QB Trey Lance (NDSU) in 2019.  The freshman from Naperville (Ill.) Neuqua Valley High accounted for 1,434 yards of total offense (239 ypg) and completed 76-of-133 passes (57.1 percent) for 1,051 yards (175.2 ypg) with eight touchdowns and three interceptions in leading SDSU to a share of the MVFC crown (with Missouri State and North Dakota) and No. 1 overall seed in this year's NCAA Division I Football Championship.



A Buck Buchanan finalist, Brinkman was a force inside, facing double and triple teams on most plays.  Despite that, he led the MVFC with 9.0 tackles for loss and 1.29 TFLs per game.  He finished the season with 38 total tackles.  The senior was second in the league with two forced fumbles and tallied three QB hurries and recovered a fumble.  He had 4.5 TFLs and a sack against Missouri State and was a leader on the Panther defense that led the league in scoring defense, allowing just 12 touchdowns all season.  It marks the 13th time a UNI player has earned the league's top defensive honor.



For the first time in 30 seasons, Missouri State will be playing the NCAA FCS playoffs.  MSU enters the NCAA playoffs with four-straight wins (three over ranked opponents), dating back to its win at No. 21 South Dakota on March 13, and the Bears earned a share of the MVFC regular-season title for the first time since 1990. Petrino was announced as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented to the FCS National Coach of the Year. Petrino is in his first season as head coach of the Bears, and he inherited a team that was 1-10 last season and was picked 9th in the MVFC preseason poll.  Petrino is the first MSU coach to be tabbed league Coach of the Year since Jesse Branch won back-to-back awards in 1989 and 1990.