ATHENS — Ellis Robinson IV was named the FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year after tying for the SEC lead with four interceptions on a Georgia defense that ranked among the best in the nation.

Robinson earned the award past fellow finalists and defensive backs DJ Pickett of LSU and Brandon Finney of Oregon.

Miami receiver Malachi Toney is the FWAA Offensive Freshman of the Year and Colorado’s Quentin Gibson has been named the Freshman Special Teams Player of the Year.

Gibson, a 5-9, 155-pound true freshman return specialist and wide receiver from Fort Worth, Texas, was Colorado’s lone true freshman to start the season opener and led all true freshmen with 626 total return yards, between kickoff and punt returns, 120 more than the next closest freshman.

Toney, Robinson and Gibson will be honored during a ceremony Feb. 23 at Spurrier’s Gridiron Grille in Gainesville, Fla., along with UNLV head coach Dan Mullen, who earned the FWAA’s First-Year Coach Award in a separate announcement today.

Toney, a 5-11, 188-pound true freshman from Liberty City, Fla., had a record-setting regular season and has helped catapult Miami, the No. 10 seed, through three playoff wins and into Monday’s national title game. Toney had 84 receptions for 970 yards and seven touchdowns during the regular season, leading all FBS freshmen in receptions and averaging 80.8 receiving yards per game. The 970 receiving yards established a new Miami freshman single-season record.

Glenn Schumann, UGA’s defensive coordinator, put Robinson’s development into perspective recently when asked how the redshirt freshman has grown in the program.

“There’s a lot of guys that have grown up over the course of the year …. I think (Robinson) kind of embodies everything that we’re talking about there,” Schumann said last month in New Orleans.

“As he’s played more, he’s gained more and more confidence. He’s had a lot of ability from the beginning.”

No doubt, Robinson arrived at Georgia as the No. 1-ranked cornerback in the 247Sports composite rankings and No. 2 overall player in the nation but lacked the physical size to play effectively down-in and down-out in the rugged SEC.

One year into the program, Robinson grew into the Bulldogs’ top-graded cornerback, per PFF, and was deployed in shutdown coverage while proving effective in run support.

KJ Bolden, Georgia’s only representative on the 2024 FWAA Freshman All-American team, said more is to come from his UGA teammate.

“He wants to get better, he knows the type of player he was coming out of high school,” Bolden said, “and he’s still that same top dawg.”

Robinson is Georgia’s second FWAA Freshman of the Year, as Brock Bowers won the award in 2021, before there were multiple winners split into offense, defense and special teams.

The Bulldogs accounted for three of the 32 spots on this year’s FWAA Freshman All-American team, as defensive tackle Elijah Griffin and offensive guard Dontrell Glover also made the team.

All-Time FWAA National Freshman Players of the Year

2018: Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (QB)

2019: Kenneth Gainwell, Memphis (RB)

2020: Will Anderson Jr., Alabama (LB)

2021: Brock Bowers, Georgia (TE)

2022: Drake Maye, North Carolina (QB)

2023: Noah Fifita, Arizona (QB); Dillon Thieneman, Purdue (S)

2024: LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina (QB); Leonard Moore, Notre Dame (DB); Nolan Hauser, Clemson (K)

2025: Malachi Toney, Miami (WR); Ellis Robinson IV, Georgia (DB); Quintin Gibson, Colorado (RS)