All Sooners

Oklahoma DE Lands on Wuerffel Watch list

Ethan Downs was nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in college football, which takes into account much more than the game itself.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma DE Lands on Wuerffel Watch list
Oklahoma DE Lands on Wuerffel Watch list /
In this story:

The preseason award nominations keep rolling in for Oklahoma, and the latest one is a big one.

Junior defensive end Ethan Downs, renowned for his citizenship off the field, is on the watch list for the Danny Wuerffel Trophy, which honors community service as well as football accomplishments.

Oklahoma has three former players who have received the Wuerffel Trophy. Center Gabe Ikard won it in 2013, center Ty Darlington won it in 2015, and former quarterback Trevor Knight won it as a player at Texas A&M in 2016.

Last season, Downs was one of 26 finalists for the John Wooden Citizenship Cup as he participated in a service trip to Miami to help a local elementary school with a beautification project and mentored students.

Among his many other activities, Downs has also served as a counselor for camps and other events for terminally ill patients at OU Children’s Hospital, took part in Art With a Heart to benefit the Oklahoma Children’s Cancer Association, and has spoken two elementary school children statewide representing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Recently, Downs donated funds raised from autograph sessions (as an NIL venture) to Connections Food and Resource Center in his hometown of Weatherford, OK.

Last spring, Downs — who got married this offseason — created and directed a campus-wide food drive for the OU Food Pantry, and during the summer, he took part in a mission trip to South Africa and still found time to coach a youth football camp in Edmond.

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Home/Football