Bryan Bresee, Valerie Cagle and Hunter Tyson win Clemson Athletic Department Awards |
Clemson, S.C. — Clemson softball All-American Valerie Cagle, All-ACC basketball player Hunter Tyson, and All-ACC defensive lineman
Bryan Bresee have been named winners of major Clemson Athletic Department Awards for the 2022-23 academic year.
Cagle is the recipient of the Frank Howard Award, the award for bringing honor to Clemson Athletics. Tyson is the recipient of the IPTAY Athlete of the Year, the honor presented to the all-around student-athlete of the year. Bresee won the Brandon Streeter Award, which is presented to a student-athlete who overcome hardship to return to the field with excellence. FRANK HOWARD AWARD Cagle is the recipient of the Frank Howard Award for the second time in her career, as she also won the honor as a freshman in 2020-21. She joins track athletes Travis Padgett (2007 and 2008) and Shawn Crawford (1998 and 2000) as the only two-time recipients of the Frank Howard Award. Cagle was named the National Player of the Year by D1 Softball and USA Softball. She was named the ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year. Additionally, Cagle was named an Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar and winner of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award among pitchers. The native of Yorktown, Virginia hit .469 with 19 home runs and 83 hits, all best in school history. On the mound she posted a 25-8 record, including eight shutout victories, with a 1.56 ERA with 188 strikeouts in 193 innings. IPTAY ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Tyson was a first-team All-ACC selection on the court and in the classroom. He won the ACC’s Skip Prosser Award, which is presented to the top student-athlete in the ACC among men’s basketball players. Additionally, he was named a second-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators Association. Statistically, Tyson averaged 15.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game in 2022-23, leading Clemson to a 24-11 record, including a school record 14 wins in ACC competition. He shot 48 percent from the field, including 41 percent on three-point shots and 84 percent from the line. He collected 16 double-doubles, most by a Clemson player in 30 years (Sharone Wright, 18, 1992-93). Tyson ranked second in the nation in defensive rebounds per game with 8.26. The North Carolina native was also a finalist for the 2023 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award and was named to the Oscar Robertson Watch List. In June, he was selected as the #37 selection of the NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets, the highest selection by a Clemson player in nine years. BRANDON STREETER AWARD Bresee battled through personal tragedy and illness throughout the 2022 campaign. His youngest sister, Ella, was hospitalized with a setback in her battle with medulloblastoma the day before Clemson’s home opener against Furman, a game in which she was set to be publicly honored. She died the following week on Sept. 15 following her battle with brain cancer. Bresee returned in 2022 following surgeries to his knee and both shoulders in 2021, the former of which cost him all but four games of his sophomore season. Despite being limited to 10 games and seven starts in 2022, he earned second-team All-ACC status from the league and was a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist. Later in the season, Bresee was hospitalized with a significant kidney infection while his family’s story was being featured on ESPN’s College GameDay in Clemson in advance of Clemson’s prime- time win against NC State. He would battle the kidney infection, strep throat and other illnesses that led to him gaining and losing 45 pounds of water weight over a two-month span. Bresee was selected by the New Orleans Saints with the No. 29 overall selection in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, becoming the highest Clemson player selected by the Saints in franchise history.
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