Justin Herbert and Satou Sabally were among the winners of major UO athletic department awards for this recently completely academic year, June 24

Rob Moseley, UO release – After being drafted into their respective professional leagues this spring, football quarterback Justin Herbert and women’s basketball forward Satou Sabally have been honored with two of the UO athletic department’s most prestigious awards. The Jackson and Emerald Athletic Awards are presented to graduating a female and male student-athlete, respectively, on the basis of leadership, scholarship, citizenship and athletic ability. Sabally received the Jackson Athletic Award for the 2019-20 academic year, and Herbert took home the Emerald Athletic Award; Sabally was a junior in athletic eligibility but is on track to complete her undergraduate degree in three years. Sabally and Herbert were honored earlier this month with the Pac-12’s Tom Hansen Conference Medal, which has been awarded every year since 1960-61 to the outstanding male and female graduating student-athletes from each conference member school based on scholarship, athletics and leadership. Sabally was an all-American and won the Cheryl Miller Award as the top small forward in women’s college basketball this past season, when the Ducks won the Pac-12’s regular-season and tournament titles. Off the court, she was one of two representatives from the Pac-12 at the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in spring 2019, and she helped coordinate UO athletics events that recognized Black History Month. Herbert won the Campbell Trophy as college football’s most accomplished scholar-athlete for 2019, and was named offensive MVP when the Pac-12 champion Ducks won the Rose Bowl. A regular participant in O Heroes community service events, Herbert spent a week during summer 2018 in Uganda through the Courts for Kids program. In April, Sabally became the No. 2 overall pick in the WNBA draft, to the Dallas Wings. A week later, Herbert was taken with the No. 6 pick in the NFL draft, by the Los Angeles Chargers. The Emerald and Jackson Awards typically would have been handed out at the UO athletic department’s annual “O Show” event. It had to be cancelled this spring due to the ongoing pandemic that closed campus during the spring quarter. But though most student-athletes weren’t on campus to accept them, several annual UO athletics award winners still were determined. The Doyle Higdon Memorial Award, given to the Ducks’ top sophomore student-athletes based on scholarship, citizenship and athletic ability, was awarded to distance runner Caramia Mestler and baseball infielder Sam Novitske. Mestler was a member of the UO athletic department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) executive team, helping plan events that united student-athletes from across the department. The business administration major also volunteered 13 hours of time to O Heroes. Novitske was the baseball team’s SAAC representative and also majors in business administration; both Mestler and Novitske recently were named to the Pac-12’s Spring Academic Honor Roll. The Jaqua Award, given to the male and female senior student-athletes with the top grade-point averages, was awarded to Hannah Esterman of acrobatics and tumbling and Dru Mathis from football. Esterman is on track to graduate this spring with a degree in human physiology, and Mathis is majoring in General Social Science: Crime, Law and Society. The O Heroes Award, given to student-athletes who play significant roles in the athletic department’s community service programs, went to two members of the track and field program, Derek Akey and Melissa Berry. Akey and Berry organized 62 volunteer activities for UO student-athletes in 2019-20 through the SAAC’s O Heroes subcommittee.