Brian Finneran - Villanova
In 1997 Brian Finneran won the Walter Payton award which recognizes the top Division I-AA Football player in the nation. Brian joins past winners such as NFL stars John Friesz, Steve McNair, and Dave Meggett. Prior to the 1998 season, Brian Signed with the Seattle Seahwaks making him the second eagle to reach the professional ranks, and the first to reach the NFL. From Seattle, Brian played for the NFL Europe Barcelona Dragons where he was named All-NFL Europe. He then went on to have a lengthly career playing for the Atlanta Falcons. He completed a ten-year NFL career with 129 games played, and 238 receptions for 3,093 yards and 19 touchdowns scored.
VILLANOVA: National Player-of-the-Year candidate; Returning first-team All-American; One of Villanova's all-time best receivers; Already owns seven school records; Is 419 yards shy of becoming Villanova's all-time leader in career receiving yards and is 19 receptions short of becoming the school's all-time leader for receptions; 1997 Division I-AA First-Team All-American Associated Press, Sports Network, American Football Coaches Association and Walter Camp (WR) 1996: Played in 11 of 12 games, missing the playoff game due to a knee injury suffered in the last game of the season at James Madison; Earned first team AFCA All-American honors; Named first team All-Conference and first team All-ECAC; Chosen as a second team Associated Press All-American; Was a third team Sports Network All-American and a third team Football Gazette All-American; Earned Villanova MVP honors at the Bert Bell Memorial Award DinnerHad one of the best seasons in school history with a schol record 81 receptions for 1,207 yards and eight touchdowns; Tallied these numbers despite playing just one half against Fordham, two quarters versus Northeastern and only one possession against James Madison; His 1,207 yrads receiving is the second best in school history; Set a school record for receptions in a game with 16 versus Connectciut; Recorded nine catches for a career-best 229 yards receiving versus Rhode Island; The 229 yards is the second most tallied by a Wildcat in a single game; 61-yard catch against Rhode Island was the longest of his career; Led conference in receiving; Had six 100-yard receiving games; Earned Yankee Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors two times and was named to the Yankee Conference Honor Roll on two occasions; Division I-AA First-Team All-American American Football Coaches Association (WR) 1995: Suffered a separated shoulder in the first game of the year and was sidelined for two games; Played in nine contests, starting eight; Made 32 receptions for 471 yards (53.2 yards per game / 3.6 receptions per game); Recorded his third career 100-yard receiving game versus UConn with 4 catches for 109 yards; His final catch against the Huskies put him over the 1,000-yard mark for his career; Currently ranks seventh all-time in receiving yards with 1,276; Tallied a season-high nine receptions versus Rhode Island 1994: Named second team All-Yankee Conference; Established Villanova freshman class records for receptions in a season, 56, and yards receiving in a season, 805, breaking Bob Brady's records of 45 and 695; Both his totals led Villanova receivers as did his seven receiving touchdowns; Averaged 14.4 yards per catch; His 56 catches was also the second best single-season performance ever at Villanova, and 805 yards was fourth best single-season total; Yankee Conference Rookie-of-the-Week twice for efforts against Richmond, 10/1/94 and James Madison, 10/15/94; 44 points (4.0 per game) was second highest on team; Also blocked two kicks on special teams. BRIAN FINNERAN'S CAREER STATISTICS YEAR G/GS REC YDS AVG TD 1994 11/7 56 805 14.4 7 1995 9/8 32 471 14.7 0 1996 11/11 81 1,207 14.9 8 TOTAL 31/26 169 2,483 14.7 1 |
Brian Finneran holds
the Orange County record for career receptions with 177
catches; Named All-League, All-County, All-CIF twice,
as well as All-State once; Team MVP as a senior, pre-season
All-American and earned county Scholar-Athlete Award;
Also received All-League, All-County, All-CIF and
All-State honors in basketball, where he was the MVP
of his team that won the CIF championship.
