Blanding and Kiser Honored by the Touchdown Club of Richmond

Dec. 5, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia senior free safety Quin Blanding and senior inside linebacker Micah Kiser have been named College Award winners by the Touchdown Club of Richmond. Blanding has been named the Touchdown Club’s defensive back of the year and Kiser was named the Touchdown Club’s linebacker of the year. This is the third year in a row the duo has won each respective honor.

Kiser is also one of three finalists for this year’s Dudley Award, presented to the state’s top player.

Blanding (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) ranks No. 2 in the ACC and No. 11 in the nation with 121 tackles. His 121 tackles and 10.1 tackles per game leads the nation’s defensive backs. His four interceptions rank No. 3 in the ACC and No. 19 in the nation. Blanding is Virginia’s all-time career tackle leader with 479 stops, which ranks No. 10 all-time in ACC history and No. 1 among ACC defensive backs. Blanding finished the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons No. 2 in the ACC in tackles and is on pace to do so for a fourth time. He finished behind Kiser in 2015 and 2016. Blanding was named a first-team All-ACC safety for the third year in a row and also is a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award.

Kiser (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) ranks No. 1 in the ACC and No. 3 in the nation with 134 tackles. His 134 stops tie his 2016 output and Wali Rainer (1998) for No. 4 on UVA’s single-season tackle list. Kiser is a finalist for the Campbell Trophy and the Senior CLASS Award, while he is a semifinalist for the Butkus Award and the Lott IMPACT Trophy. He is No. 5 all-time at UVA with 400 career tackles and owns 20 career double-digit tackle games in 36 career starts. Kiser’s 385 tackles since the start of the 2015 season are the most in the nation during that span. He has been named a first-team All-ACC linebacker for three seasons in a row.

The Touchdown Club of Richmond also honored a duo from James Madison as Aaron Stinnie was named offensive lineman of the year and Andrew Ankrah was named defensive lineman of the year. Virginia Tech also has a duo honored as Cam Phillips is the offensive end of the year and Greg Stroman is the specialist of the year. Rounding out the honorees is Richmond’s Kyle Lauletta, who was named offensive back of the year.

The Dudley/Lanier Award Banquet is open to the public and will be held Sunday, December 10, at the Hilton Richmond Hotel, 12042 West Broad Street, 5:30 p.m. Tickets cost $45.00 each and may be purchased by emailing tdclubofrichmond@verizon.net.

Also at this event, the Dudley Award and the Lanier Award will be presented to the top collegiate player in the state with the Dudley Award going to a NCAA Division I player and the Lanier Award presented to a player from a NCAA Division II, IIII, NAIA and IUSCAA college.

The Dudley Award is named for the late Bill Dudley, an NFL Hall of Famer who starred at Virginia while the Lanier Award is named for Willie Lanier, also an NFL Hall of Famer who graduated from Richmond’s Maggie Walker High School. The Touchdown Club of Richmond is a sports-social organization that serves to promote the best interests of the American game of football and sports in general, under the guidance of elected officers with the predominate purpose being to recognize worthy athletes for their accomplishments and to encourage them to continue their education and athletic careers.