STATE COLLEGE — Penn State junior tight end Theo Johnson was selected for the Mackey Award watch list on Friday.

The Mackey Award is presented annually to the top tight end in college football.

Johnson, a 6-foot-6, 264-pound tight end from Ontario, Canada, has appeared in 31 career games, making 16 starts. Last year with Penn State, he appeared in 11 games, making nine starts. He hauled in 20 receptions for 328 yards and caught four touchdown passes.

He finished fourth among Big Ten tight ends with four receiving touchdowns and helped Penn State right ends to total 13 touchdowns in 2022. The Nittany Lions were one of three teams in the FBS with four different tight ends catching a touchdown pass last season.

The award is named after NFL Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, who played 10 years in the NFL and was selected for the Pro Bowl five times. Mackey was a three-time All-NFL honoree and was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team and the league’s 50th Anniversary team. He played in two NFL Championship Games and two Super Bowls, leading the Baltimore Colts to a win in Super Bowl V.