The 13th Annual Jet Award

Return specialists Zachariah Branch and DeJuan Groce honored at Omaha event

Author:
David Max
Apr 10, 2024

In this story:

Zachariah Branch

Johnny Rodgers

The Jet Award

Nebraska football

The 13th Annual Jet Award Banquet was held April 4 at the Baxter Arena in Omaha with over 800 in attendance. The award is given to current and legacy kickoff and punt return specialists. Keynote speaker was Danny Woodhead and after party entertainment was provided by Larry the Cable Guy.

The winner this year is USC freshman Zachariah Branch, wide receiver from the University of Southern California. The legacy winner is DeJuan Groce, cornerback from Nebraska from 1999-2002. Other former players in attendance included Rick Upchurch, Gregg Pruitt, Mike Rozier, Eric Crouch, Rich Glover, Jerry Murtaugh, Aaron Taylor and James "Shack" Harris, the first Black player to start a game in the American Football League.

Metropolitan Community Collge in Omaha is the designated recipient of the Johnny Rodgers Foundation. To date, over $100,000 has been raised from the proceeds of this event to support scholarships for students attending Metropolitan Community College. These students are primarily enrolled in the trades and career programs.

Currently, over 80 students are attending MCC as a Johnny Rodgers Scholarship recipient. The students are enrolled in Construction, Heath, IT, Automotive and others with an average GPA of 3.0.

Here is a photo gallery from this year's event.