Blue Team receiver Nick Harwell is tackled for a loss by White Team defenders Marcus Jenkins-Moore and Tyler Holmes during the first half of the Kansas Spring Game on Saturday, April 12, 2014 at Memorial Stadium. Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

Senior Kansas University wide receiver Nick Harwell was one of 55 players named Tuesday to the 2014 Biletnikoff Award preseason watch list by The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc.

Created in 1994 in honor of Fred Biletnikoff, the award annually recognizes the most outstanding receiver in college football. A member of the pro and collegiate football halls of fame, Biletnikoff was an All-Pro receiver for the Oakland Raiders and an All-America receiver at Florida State University.

The 2014 winner will be selected by the Biletnikoff Award National Selection Committee, a group of 221 prominent college football journalists, commentators, and former receivers. The winner will be honored with the trophy live on Dec. 11 on The Home Depot College Football Awards Show to be broadcast from 7-9 pm on ESPN.

Harwell, a native of Missouri City, Texas, transferred to Kansas and was forced to sit out a season ago after spending the previous three years at Miami (Ohio), where he was a three-time All-Mid-American Conference selection and an honorable mention All-America selection by Sports Illustrated in 2011.

Harwell closed out his career at Miami holding the three highest single-game reception and receiving yard totals, as well as rewriting the Redhawk record book for most 100-yard games in school history. In just three seasons, Harwell ranks second on both the all-time Miami receptions and receiving yards lists with 229 catches for 3,166 yards.

KU opens its season Sept. 6, when the Jayhawks play host to Southeast Missouri State at Memorial Stadium.