Charleston, S.C. (Oct. 1, 2014) – FIU quarterback Alex McGough has been selected as one of 30 freshmen from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) on the initial College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) watch list for the 2014 National Freshman Performer of the Year Trophy.
 
In the first five games of his collegiate career, McGough has thrown for 652 yards on 51-of-112 passing and seven touchdowns. The Tampa, Fla., native has thrown a pair of 200-yards games, including last week's 204 yard performance at UAB where the first-year signal caller registered the second- (85 yards) and sixth-longest (75 yards) pass plays in FIU history.  McGough has thrown multiple touchdowns in three of the team's first five games.
 
The 2014 season marks the sixth year for the CFPA National Freshman Performer of the Year Trophy. Previous winners include: Jameis Winston (Florida State), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), Braxton Miller (Ohio State), Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina), and LaMichael James (Oregon).
 
Winston and Manziel, the two most recent winners of the award, also won the CFPA National Performer of the Year Trophy in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
 
2014 CFPA National Freshman Performer of the Year Trophy Watch List:
 
Anu Solomon (QB), Arizona 
Nick Wilson (RB), Arizona 
KD Cannon (WR), Baylor 
Jon Hilliman (RB), Boston College 
Roger Lewis (WR), Bowling Green 
Artavis Scott (WR), Clemson 
Deshaun Watson (QB), Clemson 
Shaun Wilson (RB), Duke 
Alex McGough (QB), FIU 
Sony Michel (RB), Georgia 
Mike Dudek (WR), Illinois 
Garrett Johnson (WR), Kentucky 
Leonard Fournette (RB), LSU 
Brandon Harris (QB), LSU 
Brad Kaaya (QB), Miami 
J.T. Barrett (QB), Ohio State 
Samaje Perine (RB), Oklahoma 
Devon Allen (WR), Oregon 
Royce Freeman (RB), Oregon 
DaeSean Hamilton (WR), Penn State 
Jalen Hurd (RB), Tennessee 
Myles Garrett (DL), Texas A&M 
Speedy Noil (WR), Texas A&M 
Ricky Seals-Jones (WR), Texas A&M 
Sherman Badie (RB), Tulane 
JuJu Smith (WR), USC 
Marlon Mack (RB), USF 
Ralph Webb (RB), Vanderbilt 
Isaiah Ford (WR), Virginia Tech 
Jarvion Franklin (RB), Western Michigan
 
About College Football Performance Awards:
The goal of College Football Performance Awards is to provide the most scientifically rigorous conferments in college football. Recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.
As prominent scholars from a wide variety of disciplines note, CFPA eliminates the politics and biases that vitiate balloting-based awards. Furthermore, CFPA has received praise from both Republican and Democratic White House officials for promoting objectivity and fairness in college football.
 
CFPA is now in its seventh season of player and team performance recognition. Twenty-eight CFPA winners have been first-round NFL Draft selections.
 
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FIU will face the Florida Atlantic Owls on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FSN.
 
The game will be broadcast live on 1210AM with Mike Levine (play-by-play) and Pete Pelegrin (color analyst) calling all of the action. FIU's remaining four home games features C-USA opponents Florida Atlantic (Oct. 2), Marshall (Oct. 8), Rice (Nov. 1) and Middle Tennessee (Nov. 15).
 
For FIU football ticket information, log onto www.FIUSports.com or contact the University Credit Union Box Office at 305-FIU-GAME (348-4263).
 
For the latest information on Panthers football, follow us on Twitter, @FIUFootball, and check out Pete Pelegrin's in-depth coverage of FIU Athletics on his official blog, The Prowl, at www.FIUSports.com.
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.