Rutgers transfer wide receiver DT Sheffield has been named to the Paul Hornung Award Preseason Watch List, one of 48 players around the nation to receive the honor. The Paul Hornung Award is given to the most versatile player in major college football, which includes all of FBS (Power Four and Group of Six conferences). Paul Hornung won the Heisman Trophy in 1956, doing just about everything in all three phases of the game for Notre Dame, before going on to have a productive NFL career and landing
in both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Sheffield has climbed up the college football ladder, playing three years at Northwest Mississippi Community College, leaving as the team’s all-time leader in career receptions and receiving touchdowns and finishing second all-time in receiving yards. He then transferred to Washington State, playing in two games before transferring again to North Texas. He had a breakout year with the Mean Green in 2024, with 66 receptions for 822 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. Sheffield led the American Athletic Conference (now the American Conference) and finished seventh nationally in receiving touchdowns.
In addition to being a First Team All-AAC wide receiver, Sheffield was a member of the Third Team All-AAC as a return specialist for North Texas. He returned six kickoffs for 127 yards (21.2-yard average) and 13 punts for 157 yards (12.1-yard average). DT also contributed on the ground, where he added four rushes for 86 yards and a touchdown. Sheffield placed eighth in the American Conference with 99.3 all-purpose yards per game and led the Mean Green with 1,192 all-purpose yards.
Sheffield will look to bring his versatility to the Scarlet Knights, with the ability to make big plays in many facets of the game. Last season, Sheffield had 20 plays of 25 or more yards, including 11 receptions, five kick returns, three punt returns, and one rush. He projects to be Rutgers’ starting slot receiver and returner, a phase of the game that has been dormant in recent years. Last season, the Scarlet Knights returned just four kickoffs for 40 yards and nine punts for 176 yards. With a dynamic returner in Sheffield, it will be interesting to see if Greg Schiano activates the return game in 2025.
Sheffield joins Aron Cruickshank, Janarion Grant, and Raheem Blackshear as Rutgers players to make the Hornung Award Preseason Watch List, with Cruickshank and Grant also playing wide receiver and serving as the Knights’ return specialists. Blackshear was a running back and return specialist who played three seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Virginia Tech. Sheffield also joins Eric O’Neill as the only two Knights selected to a preseason watch list, with O’Neill on the watch list for the Lott Impact Trophy (defensive player award).
The Big Ten has had three Paul Hornung Award recipients in consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2018: Jabrill Peppers, Saquon Barkley, and Rondale Moore, although a Scarlet Knight has never won the award. Many of the past decade’s biggest NFL playmakers have won the award in college, including Tavon Austin, Christian McCaffrey, Odell Beckham Jr, and DeVonta Smith. Travis Hunter won the award for the past two seasons for his stellar play as a wide receiver and cornerback, which also won him the Heisman Trophy and a slew of other college football awards.
DT Sheffield joins a dynamic pass-catching group, which returns last season’s second and third-leading receivers, Ian Strong and KJ Duff. Tight end Kenny Fletcher and fellow American Conference transfer CJ Campbell are expected to play a role in the receiving game as well. Rutgers will look to capitalize on Sheffield’s versatility as a receiver, return man, and even in the run game in jet sweeps and end arounds, similar to how Aron Cruickshank was used a few seasons ago.
