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Here Are the Winners of the 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards

View the winners of our postseason awards here

Photo: Derek Warden

The 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards are in the books.

This is the fifth awards ceremony we’ve done, and it’s the most extensive, with 26 awards. We even split up a few awards between men’s and women’s UCF Knights sports, and we’ve added a few awards as well.

Here are the results:

2022 Black & Gold Banneret Award Winners

Award Category 2021-2022
Award Category 2021-2022
Team of the Year Men Football
Team of the Year Women Softball
Athlete of the Year Men Gephry Pena (Baseball)
Athlete of the Year Women Jada Cody (Softball)
Coach of the Year Men Gus Malzahn (Football)
Coach of the Year Women Cindy Ball-Malone (Softball)
Game of the Year Men Gasparilla Bowl win vs. Florida (Football)
Game of the Year Women Softball's 11-inning thriller vs. Michigan (Orlando Regional)
Senior of the Year Men Noah Orlando (Baseball)
Senior of the Year Women Gianna Mancha (Softball)
Individual Performance of the Year Men Ryan O'Keefe (Gasparilla Bowl)
Individual Performance of the Year Women Kama Woodall (Michigan Winner's Bracket Game)
Breakout Athlete of the Year Men Ryan O'Keefe (Football)
Breakout Athlete of the Year Women Jada Cody (Softball)
Transfer of the Year Men Brandon Johnson (Football)
Transfer of the Year Women Kama Woodall (Softball)
Freshman of the Year Men Darius Johnson (Men's Basketball)
Freshman of the Year Women Ashleigh Griffin (Softball)
Assistant Coach of the Year Men Travis Williams (Football Defensive Coordinator)
Assistant Coach of the Year Women Jenny Maurer (Volleyball)
Comeback Athlete of the Year Diamond Battles (Women's Basketbal)
Moment of the Year Ryan O'Keefe salutes Otis Anderson on TD reception in Gasparilla Bowl
Play of the Year Shannon Doherty's walk-off home run vs. Georgia
Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Sean Johnson (MLS)
Story of the Year UCF accepts invitation to join Big 12 (and Sun Belt in Men's Soccer)
Photo of the Year Kama Woodall and Shannon Doherty celebrating after winning Orlando Regional

A reminder: The award winners were determined by staff vote, with each member getting one vote. A fan vote was also held for every award, and the winner of the fan poll received an extra vote. In the event of a tie, the award went to the winner of the fan vote.

The highlights from this year:

  • Three awards were determined by the fan vote tiebreaker: Women’s Assistant Coach (Jenny Maurer won over Whitney Jones), Men’s Freshman of the Year (Darius Johnson over Andrew Sundean), and Women’s Freshman of the Year (Ashleigh Griffin over Micaela Macario).
  • Softball led all teams with 11 awards
  • Ryan O’Keefe, Kama Woodall, and Jada Cody all won two awards, more than all other individuals.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the voting, and a very special thanks to all the athletes and coaches who shared the awards on social media.

Congrats to all the winners and nominees!

Now, it’s off to the new athletic season.