BERKELEY – Cal junior wide receiver Chad Hansen was added to the 2016 Biletnikoff Award Watch List for the first time in his career the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation announced Tuesday. The Biletnikoff Award annually recognizes the top receiver at any position in college football and is named for Fred Biletnikoff, a member of the Pro and College Football Halls of Fame who was an All-Pro receiver with the Oakland Raiders after an All-American career at Florida State.

"This is an amazing honor that I have been working towards all off season but most of the credit is due to Davis Webb and the rest of my teammates for giving me the opportunity to reach these goals," Hansen said.

The recognition was the latest for the junior wide receiver that was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Monday among a host of other awards. Hansen is off to a blistering start in 2016 leading the nation in receptions (40), receptions per game (13.3), receiving yards (546) and receiving yards per game (182.0 ypg), while he is tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns (5).

Hansen is believed to be the first Cal player to ever record both three consecutive games of at least 10 catches and 100 yards receiving. He opened the season with back-to-back career-high-tying 14-reception contests that rank tied third on the school's single-game receptions list vs. Hawai'i (160 yards, 2 TD) as the MVP of the College Football Sydney Cup and at San Diego State (190 yards, 1 TD) before earning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors among others in Cal's 50-43 victory over Texas last Saturday when he had 12 receptions for a career-high 196 yards receiving and a career-high-tying two touchdown catches while also adding a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. His second touchdown catch was a 12-yarder from Davis Webb with 3:41 remaining that snapped a 43-43 tie and provided the winning margin.

Hansen is one of only two players on Cal's single-game reception list to have more than one top-10 contest with the other Dameane Douglas, who has three games on the list.
Fans may vote for Hansen once daily on the Biletnikoff Award FanVote page and discuss his candidacy on the award's FanForum discussion board. The aggregate fan tally will be counted as one official vote to determine ten semi-finalists (ten receivers), three finalists and the winner who will be announced live December 8 on The Home Depot College Football Awards Show (4-6 pm PT, ESPN). The 2016 Biletnikoff Award winner will be presented his trophy at the Biletnikoff Award Banquet at the University Center Club at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday, February 18, 2017. 

Cal (2-1, 0-0 Pac-12) opens its Pac-12 schedule at Arizona State (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12) in Tempe this Saturday, Sept. 24. The game will be televised live by ESPN2 and is scheduled to kick off at 7:15 pm MST/PDT. The Golden Bears have won their last two contests against the Sun Devils as well as nine of the last 11 meetings between the teams. Cal leads the all-time series, 18-15.

Radio broadcasts of all Cal football games can be heard live on KGO 810 AM, the Cal IMG Sports Network, Sirius XM Radio and online via tunein. The Toyota Tailgate pregame show starts one hour before kickoff.

CalBears.com along with the Cal football Twitter (@CalFootball), Instagram (Cal_Football) and Snapchat (CalFootball) social media accounts provide extensive coverage of Cal football. Fans can join in the conversation using the hashtags #GoBears and #CalFamily.

Tickets for 2016 Cal football are on sale now. For more information, visit CalBears.com or call (800) GO BEARS (462-3277).