Air Force’s Trey Taylor picked off one of college football’s most prestigious awards on Friday night.

The senior safety was named the Jim Thorpe Award winner during a live broadcast on ESPN. The award goes to the nation’s top defensive back “based on performance on the field, athletic ability and character.”

Taylor is the second Falcons football player to win a major college football individual honor, joining Chad Hennings (Outland Trophy) in 1987.

It was Hennings who

informed Taylor that he had received the award earlier in the week in front of Taylor’s Falcons teammates.

A leader on an Air Force defense that ranked sixth in the nation in fewest yards allowed and 14th in points allowed, Taylor ranked third on the Falcons with 67 total tackles (36 solo, second on the team) with 4.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions and four passes broken up. He also blocked a key PAT that kept the game against Wyoming tied in the fourth quarter.

According to Pro Football Focus, Taylor played 356 coverage snaps with one touchdown allowed and a 47.0 passer rating allowed. The service gave him an 87.2% coverage grade.

“We’ve got one more to go get,” Taylor said during the ESPN broadcast on Friday, referring to the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 23 that will have the Falcons facing No. 24 James Madison.

“He just means everything,” said outside linebacker Bo Richter, who, like Taylor, was a first-team All-mountain West selection this season. “He’s one of my best friends. It’s a privilege to be able to play with a guy like that, just as a man and obviously as a player on the field. He’s a phenomenal player, I think everybody knows that. But as a man and a friend, it’s such a privilege to share the field and share life with a guy like that.”

There have been 36 recipients of the Thorpe Award since it was first awarded in 1987. Of those, 24 went on to become first-round NFL Draft selections, 15 then became Pro Bowl or All-pro selections in the NFL and, so far, two are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (current Colorado coach Deion Sanders and Charles Woodson).

Taylor, a native of Frisco, Texas and graduate of Frisco Lone Star High School, is the fourth player from a Colorado school to win the award, joining Colorado’s Deion Figures (1992) and Chris Hudson (1994) and Colorado State’s Greg Myers (1995).

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said a major individual award isn’t necessarily a “game changer” for a program, but it is something his staff will share with recruits who might want to be considered the best at their position at the college level.

“The best thing he shares with others is his attitude,” Calhoun said of Taylor. “If there’s two things we always control, it’s our energy and our attitude. He’s fantastic that way.”