Virginia Union University’s Shawheem Dowdy, Hakeem Holland and Paulin Miano are on the first Deacon Jones Trophy watch list.

The Black College Football Hall of Fame announced Aug. 31 the establishment of the Deacon Jones Trophy to be awarded annually to the top football player at a historically black college or university.

Essentially, the award will be like the Heisman Trophy of HBCUs.

The Deacon Jones Trophy is open to HBCU athletes from all levels of competition, including the Division II CIAA.

Dowdy is VUU’s senior quarterback, while Holland is a sophomore running back and Miano is a junior defensive end.

Dowdy and Holland hail from Baltimore, while Miano is from Washington.

Also on the 53-player watch list are Norfolk State University quarterback Greg Hankerson and Hampton University receiver Twarn Mixson.

The first Deacon Jones Trophy winner will be announced Feb. 25 at the eighth annual Black College Football Hall of Fame ceremony in Atlanta.

“Players from historically black colleges and universities have had a tremendous impact on the game of football,” said James Harris, co-founder of the Black College Football Hall of Fame and a 2012 inductee. “There are very few players who represent this award better than the legendary Deacon Jones.”

A native Floridian, Jones played at South Carolina State University and Mississippi Vocational, now Mississippi Valley State University, before embarking on an NFL Hall of Fame career.

The defensive end accumulated 173.5 sacks between 1961 and 1974, although sacks were not an official category during his career with the Los Angeles Rams, the San Diego Chargers and Washington.

In 2014, the NFL established the Deacon Jones Award to honor its league leader in sacks. The Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt won the honor last year after the Indianapolis Colts’ Robert Mathis claimed the inaugural title.

In college football, there also is a Walter Payton Award to honor the top player from Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) schools. Payton went from Jackson State University in Mississippi to become one of the NFL’s all-time great ball carriers.