After leading the conference in passing yards and touchdowns, Morehead State junior quarterback Austin Gahafer has been named the Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Year.
The Louisville, Ky., native is the second MSU player to earn one of the league's major awards since the PFL disbanded the divisional format in 2006, joining current Assistant Coach Wes McDermott, who was the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year.
Gahafer is the first Morehead State player to be named the outright PFL Offensive Player of the Year. David Caudill was the PFL South Division Offensive Player of the Year in 2003.
The league's all-conference teams will be announced Tuesday.
"Austin is one of the main reasons we played for a PFL Championship this year," Head Coach Rob Tenyer said. "He is very deserving of this award. Austin has worked extremely hard to improve physically and mentally his first three seasons, and I believe the best is yet to come."
Gahafer finished 2015 with 3,244 yards and 24 scores through the air. He also rushed for three touchdowns and caught two scoring tosses, accounting for 291.5 total offensive yards per game. Gahafer ranks second in the nation in passing yards and completions per game (26.4).
His 291 completions rank fourth on the league's single-season top-10 list and his 510 attempts are third most in league history. With one season remaining, Gahafer already ranks fourth in PFL career history in completions (842) and attempts (1,386), eighth in yards (8,514) and ninth in touchdowns (60).
He needs 1,738 yards in his senior season to set the MSU career passing mark, held by his current QBs coach Zach Lewis, and 2,717 yards to break the PFL career standard.
A finalist for the STATS, LLC National Offensive Player of the Year, Gahafer recorded six 300-yard games, including a season-high 447 yards and four touchdowns at VMI early in the year. That effort earned him the STATS National Offensive Player of the Week accolade.
"I am excited by the fact that this award should drive him to work even harder in the offseason," Tenyer said.
He tossed three or more touchdowns six times this season, including four-touchdown performances versus VMI (Sept. 12) and Davidson (Sept. 26). He completed 57 percent of his throws and produced a 122.1 passing efficiency.
