DALLAS – Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, the consensus 2026 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and 2026 NCAA World Series participant, is the 39th recipient of the 2026 Dick Howser Trophy presented by The Game Headwear.
Jackson joins Bulldogs great Charlie Condon, the 2024 Howser Trophy recipient, as the second Georgia star to take the honor in the past three seasons for UGA head coach Wes Johnson and the second Georgia standout to win since the trophy was initiated in 1987. He also is the 12th player from then-members of the Southeastern Conference to achieve the honor and the fifth in the last six seasons.
The junior from Sandy Springs, Georgia., led or was in the top five in almost every statistical category for offense in the SEC and nationally in ’26. He was a major cog in the Bulldogs’ 51-12 overall record prior to the World Series for the second-most victories on a season behind the 1990 NCAA champion Bulldogs with a 52-19 finish.
Besides leading the Bulldogs to their first SEC title since 2008 and the postseason tourney crown, he was SEC Player of the Year and NCBWA All-America First Team with current standings of a .837 slugging percentage (fourth nationally), 31 home runs (tied for third), 97 hits (tied for third) and .396 batting average (15th). He became just the fourth Triple Crown winner (home runs, RBI, average) in SEC annals this year, joining Rafael Palmeiro of Mississippi State in 1984, Brent Rooker of Mississippi State in 2017 and Christian Moore of Tennessee in 2024.
Jackson reached yet another milestone in May when he became just the fifth player NCAA Division I annals to hit 25 home runs and steal 25 bases in the same season (the last was North Carolina’s Vance Honeycutt in 2024) along with being the first catcher in SEC record books on May 16, 2026, to have 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in the same year. He leads the 2026 Bulldogs in base swipes with 26 of the team’s 71 total.
The Georgia native also earned NCBWA Freshman All-America laurels at Wofford in 2024 with 12 homers and 69 RBI In 56 games at Wofford before he transferred to Georgia to play prior to the 2025 campaign. His defensive play and 26 stolen bases (among the best by catchers In DI) aided the Bulldogs to the NCAA Athens Regional title, a consensus No. 1 national ranking on June 1 (just the third time in school history) and host role In the Athens Super Regional against No. 7 nationally Mississippi State.
The finalist for the 2026 Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Award helped Georgia overcome a 7-0 lead and down fellow SEC power MSU 13-12 in the first game of the Athens Super Regional and then tagged his 31st round-tripper of the season as the decisive blow in a 11-9 triumph over State the next day.
Jackson is well on his way to consensus All-America laurels after leading the Bulldogs to a final SEC record of 23-7 with a remarkable nine SEC, three-game series’ wins in 10 weekends.
In SEC games, he batted .392 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI over the 30-game slate while stealing 13 of 15 bases. The Bulldogs standout has helped the last two UGA squads win 94 contests with back-to-back Super Regional appearances after hammering 14 home runs as a junior in ‘25.
He captured the 2026 award from four additional nationally known Howser Trophy finalists SS Roch Cholowsky (also a 2025 Howser Trophy finalist) of UCLA, 1B Tague Davis of Louisville, pitcher Jackson Flora of UC Santa Barbara, and OF Landon Hairston of Arizona State.
The announcement of the trophy honor was made at a national news conference Friday after extensive national balloting by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association at Charles Schwab Field – site of the NCAA World Series June 12-21/22.
“Daniel Jackson is a youngster who epitomizes the tenets of the Dick Howser Trophy - leadership, moral character and courage – and obviously he had a career year with Georgia,” Howser Trophy chairman David Feaster said. “He helped lead Georgia to the SEC regular-season and postseason championships in one of the toughest and most talented baseball conferences nationally, particularly in 2026.
“The Dick Howser Trophy committee also acknowledges the great assistance of the NCAA, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Major League Baseball, the MLB Network, Georgia head coach Wes Johnson, Georgia athletics communications, Daniel’s family and many others who have helped make this the most prestigious award in college baseball for the last 40 seasons.”
A Florida native, Dick Howser was twice an All-America shortstop at Florida State (1957-58), then head coach of the Seminoles in 1979 after a career as a Major League player and coach. After one year in the college ranks, he returned to the majors to manage the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals and won the World Series with the Royals in 1985. The baseball stadium on the Florida State campus is named for Howser.
The Dick Howser Trophy not only honors a player with some of the best ability nationally, but it also is based upon the tenets of - leadership, moral character and courage. The top draft choices for the upcoming Major League Baseball free agent draft usually are among the Howser Trophy finalists, but this is not a criterion for the eventual winner.
NCBWA membership includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport's only college media-related organization, founded in 1962. The NCBWA has been the voting mechanism for the Howser Trophy annually since 1998.
The Howser Trophy was created in 1987, shortly after Howser's death. Previous winners of the Howser Trophy presented by The Game Headwear are Mike Fiore, OF, Miami (Fla.), 1987; Robin Ventura, 3B, Oklahoma State, 1988; Scott Bryant, 1B-P, Texas, 1989; Alex Fernandez, P, Miami-Dade Community College South, 1990; Frank Rodriguez, P, Howard College (Texas), 1991; Brooks Kieschnick, UT-P, Texas, 1992 and 1993; Jason Varitek, C, Georgia Tech, 1994; Todd Helton, 1B, Tennessee, 1995; Kris Benson, P, Clemson, 1996; J. D. Drew, OF, Florida State, 1997; Eddy Furniss, 1B, LSU, 1998; Jason Jennings, UT-P, Baylor, 1999; Mark Teixeira, 1B, Georgia Tech, 2000; Mark Prior, P, USC, 2001, Khalil Greene, SS, Clemson, 2002; Rickie Weeks, 2B, Southern U., 2003; Jered Weaver, P, Long Beach State, 2004; Alex Gordon, 3B, Nebraska, 2005; Brad Lincoln, P/DH, Houston, 2006; David Price, P, Vanderbilt, 2007; Buster Posey, C, Florida State, 2008; Stephen Strasburg, P, San Diego State, 2009; Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice, 2010; Taylor Jungmann, P, Texas, 2011; Mike Zunino, C, Florida, 2012; Kris Bryant, 3B, San Diego, 2013; A.J. Reed, DH-P, Kentucky, 2014; Andrew Benintendi, OF, Arkansas, 2015; Seth Beer, OF, Clemson, 2016; Brendan McKay, DH-P, Louisville, 2017; Brady Singer, P, Florida, 2018; Adley Rutschman, C, Oregon State, 2019; No Award, COVID-19, 2020; Kevin Kopps, P, Arkansas, 2021; Ivan Melendez, 1B, Texas, 2022; Paul Skenes, P, LSU, 2023; Charlie Condon, OF-1B, Georgia, 2024; and Alex Lodise, SS, Florida State, 2025.