1997 National Player-Of-The-Year Brian Finneran

VILLANOVA: National Player-of-the-Year candidate; Returning first-team All-American; One of Villanova's all-time best receivers; Already owns seven school records; Is 419 yards shy of becoming Villanova's all-time leader in career receiving yards and is 19 receptions short of becoming the school's all-time leader for receptions;

1996: Played in 11 of 12 games, missing the playoff game due to a knee injury suffered in the last game of the season at James Madison; Earned first team AFCA All-American honors; Named first team All-Conference and first team All-ECAC; Chosen as a second team Associated Press All-American; Was a third team Sports Network All-American and a third team Football Gazette All-American; Earned Villanova MVP honors at the Bert Bell Memorial Award DinnerHad one of the best seasons in school history with a schol record 81 receptions for 1,207 yards and eight touchdowns; Tallied these numbers despite playing just one half against Fordham, two quarters versus Northeastern and only one possession against James Madison; His 1,207 yrads receiving is the second best in school history; Set a school record for receptions in a game with 16 versus Connectciut; Recorded nine catches for a career-best 229 yards receiving versus Rhode Island; The 229 yards is the second most tallied by a Wildcat in a single game; 61-yard catch against Rhode Island was the longest of his career; Led conference in receiving; Had six 100-yard receiving games; Earned Yankee Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors two times and was named to the Yankee Conference Honor Roll on two occasions;
1995: Suffered a separated shoulder in the first game of the year and was sidelined for two games; Played in nine contests, starting eight; Made 32 receptions for 471 yards (53.2 yards per game / 3.6 receptions per game); Recorded his third career 100-yard receiving game versus UConn with 4 catches for 109 yards; His final catch against the Huskies put him over the 1,000-yard mark for his career; Currently ranks seventh all-time in receiving yards with 1,276; Tallied a season-high nine receptions versus Rhode Island;
1994: Named second team All-Yankee Conference; Established Villanova freshman class records for receptions in a season, 56, and yards receiving in a season, 805, breaking Bob Brady's records of 45 and 695; Both his totals led Villanova receivers as did his seven receiving touchdowns; Averaged 14.4 yards per catch; His 56 catches was also the second best single-season performance ever at Villanova, and 805 yards was fourth best single-season total; Yankee Conference Rookie-of-the-Week twice for efforts against Richmond, 10/1/94 and James Madison, 10/15/94; 44 points (4.0 per game) was second highest on team; Also blocked two kicks on special teams.

SANTA MARGARITA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: Holds Orange County record for career receptions with 177 catches; Named All-League, All-County, All-CIF twice, as well as All-State once; Team MVP as a senior, pre-season All-American and earned county Scholar-Athlete Award; Also received All-League, All-County, All-CIF and All-State honors in basketball, where he was the MVP of his team that won the CIF championship.

PERSONAL: Business major; Twin brother Brad also a junior on Villanova Football squad; One of four children of Joseph and Burda Finneran; Born 1/31/76 in Fullerton, California.

BRI. FINNERAN'S CAREER STATISTICS

        G/GS    REC   YDS   AVG   TD
1994    11/7    56    805  14.4    7
1995     9/8    32    471  14.7    0
1996   11/11    81  1,207  14.9    8
TOTAL  31/26   169  2,483  14.7   15

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