Follow
The National Middle Attacker of the Year award will be renamed in honor of an All-American who led his school to its first national championship.
Off the Block announced Tuesday that the new college men’s volleyball national award will now be called the Ryan Millar Award.
Ryan Millar was a three-time All-American and as a senior in 1999 helped BYU finish the season 30-1 and win the program’s first NCAA championship. In addition, the middle attacker more than 15 years later remains the school’s record holder for career kills at 1,797 and career blocks with 662.
Millar after graduating from BYU competed in three Olympics with the U.S. Men’s National Team and helped the United States win the 2008 Olympic gold medal. He also played almost a decade professionally for various teams in Europe and Puerto Rico.
The Ryan Millar Award will be the first national position-based award in college men’s volleyball history given to a middle attacker. The naming of this award after a former standout player was done in effort to preserve and honor the sport’s history.
This will be one of five position-based national college men’s volleyball awards presented by Off the Block this season.
Off the Block awards the Lloy Ball Award for the nation’s top setter, the Bryan Ivie Award for the nation’s top opposite and the Karch Kiraly Award for the nation’s top outside attacker. The Ryan Millar Award will also debut this season along with the Erik Shoji Award for the nation’s top libero.
Several volleyball organizations present end-of-season awards ranging from All-American Teams to the National Player of the Year. However, Off the Block is the first organization to present college men’s volleyball national awards based on a specific position.
All five national award winners will be determined at the end of the regular season by a nationwide voting committee comprised of coaches and media members.
The top-three vote-getters for each award will be named finalists. The player receiving the most votes for each award will be announced as the winner.
Off the Block launched its website in 2011 and has become one of the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage.