Makai Lemon honored at The Biletnikoff Award Banquet.

By Daniel Feuerstein | March 8th, 2026 | Tallahassee, FL

The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation is holding the Biletnikoff Award Banquet to honor the 2025 AwardWinner, Makai Lemon from the University of Southern California. The All-American Wide Receiver and keynote speaker Raghib “Rocket” Ismail will be at the banquet and will recognize other Scholarship recipients. This will be the 32nd annual event, and it’s sold out. This is a black-tie event, and it will be held at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center basketball arena in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday, March 28th, in front of 700 patrons.

Every year, the Biletnikoff Award is given to the college football season’s outstanding FBS receiver. Any player, regardless of what position they play on offense. Wide Receiver, Running back, Tight End, slot, or inside receiver, or wing back who catches a pass is eligible. The Biletnikoff Award recognizes college football’s outstanding receiver, not just the outstanding Wide Receiver. Tight end Kyle Pitts was a finalist for the 2020 award, and many other Tight ends were also finalists in other years. This award is for a single season, not an entire career award.

This award has been among the most highly followed in college football. It has gained over 2.6 million views on X/Twitter through social media in 2024. its second only to the Heisman Trophy Winner announcement that has earned 3.2 million views. In the 2025 college football season, Makai Lemon totaled 79 catches for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns.

This award’s semifinalists, three finalists, and award recipient are chosen by the highly distinguished Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, which is a group of 625 college football journalists, commentators, announcers, Biletnikoff Award winners, and other former receivers. They give their opinions on who should advance toward the final decision of who wins the award. To see the list of people given the opportunity to vote on these players, click here. Past award winners are Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper, Golden Tate, Brandin Cooks, the late Terry Glenn, Ja’Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith, and Larry Fitzgerald.

This year’s banquet keynote speaker will be Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, joining the long list of former keynote speakers at this event. The list includes the late Bart Starr, Dick Vermeil, the late Floyd Little, Larry Csonka, Steve Largent, Mike Ditka, the late Don Shula, the late Dan Reeves, Archie Manning, Ron Jaworski, Gene Stallings, Bob Griese, Bill Curry, the late Bobby Bowden, Jim Kelly, Jerry Kramer, Joe Theismann, Dan Fouts, Chad Hennings, the late Lou Holtz, Aaron Taylor, Archie Griffin, Danny Wuerffel, Drew Pearson, and Gino Torretta.

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