Chapple Named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year

After leading the most prolific offense in the history of the Ivy League, Harvard senior quarterback Colton Chapple has won the conference’s highest honor.

In a Monday afternoon presentation at the Vanderbilt Room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, Chapple was awarded the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year.

The quarterback becomes the third straight Crimson standout in as many years to win the cup, after defensive tackle Josue Ortiz ’11 won the defensive edition of the honor last season and running back Gino Gordon ’11 earned the award in 2010.

The senior was named one of two finalists for the cup last week, along with Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews, who last season became the first sophomore to win player of the year honors.

But in 2012, it was Chapple who took home the trophy following a season in which he finished second in the nation in passing efficiency, behind only Stony Brook’s Kyle Essington.

The quarterback threw a program-record 24 touchdown passes—surpassing the previous high of 18—and accounted for 3,169 yards of total offense, also the most in Crimson history. That number includes Chapple’s 602 rushing yards—the fifth-most of any player in the conference—and he also collected nine touchdowns on the ground.

Over the course of his Crimson career—in which the 2012 season was his first as the full-time starter—Chapple threw at least four touchdown passes five times; no quarterback in Crimson history had done that more than twice.

This year, he led an offense that was fourth in the country with over 487 yards per game and that scored 394 points, the most of any Ivy League squad since the conference formed in 1956.

Chapple was previously named the New England Player of the Year and first-team All-Ivy League while winning the Frederick Greeley Crocker Award as the program’s most valuable player.

He becomes the seventh Harvard player to win the Bushnell Cup, following quarterback Jim Stoeckel (1973), wide receiver Carl Morris (2001, 2002), quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (2004), quarterback Chris Pizzotti (2008), Gordon (2010), and Ortiz (2011). The honor has been awarded annually since 1970 and began recognizing both an offensive and a defensive player in 2011.

Princeton defensive tackle Mike Catapano, who led the conference with 12 sacks, won the Bushnell Cup on the defensive side.

—Check thecrimson.com for updates.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.