JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has placed two athletes on the 2026 Jerry Rice Award Watch List, it was announced Tuesday. Among the list was Austin Peay’s
Denver Harper and North Alabama’s
Xavier Johnson.
The Jerry Rice Award is named after the legendary Hall of Fame wide receiver who starred in the FCS at Mississippi Valley State University. Past recipients include Cooper Kupp, Chase Edmonds, Trey Lance, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders.
True and redshirt freshmen are eligible for the Jerry Rice Award. A national media panel will select the winner from a group of finalists following the regular season.
Harper has been one of the Govs biggest offensive threats this season, totaling 19 catches for 411 yards and six touchdowns. The Fort Mitchell, Ala. native also has two punt return scores under his belt this season for 805 all-purpose yards - a UAC best - and his eight touchdowns are second in the conference in scoring TDs.
Johnson has been the Lions go-to in the receiving game this season with 35 catches for 679 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt freshman has three games of 100+ receiving yards while adding in six rush attempts for 92 yards and one score. Johnson currently leads the conference in receiving yards, yards per reception and reception yards per game.
General media inquiries should be directed to:
Claire Johnson, Senior Director, Strategic Communications & Content
Unisun Sports / claire.johnson@unisunsports.com
About the United Athletic Conference
The United Athletic Conference (UAC) was established in 2023 as a single-sport football conference through a partnership between the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and the former Western Athletic Conference. In 2026, the ASUN and UAC formed Unisun Sports to further strengthen the conference, which now features eight football-playing member institutions: Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) and the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.).