The Derrick Sears Award is earned by the player who demonstrates: great play, outstanding effort in practice and games, a team first attitude, a great work ethic, good academic record. Derrick exemplified all of these qualities which prompted the coaches to name the award after him. Derrick won the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete Award.
| Player | Year |
| Derrick Sears | 2001 |
| Nat Jackson | 2002 |
| Travis Ludden | 2003 |
| Jason Lovett | 2004 |
| Byron Allen | 2005 |
| Octavious Williams | 2006 |
| Larry Gibbs | 2007 |
| Drake Sanders | 2008 |
| Donnie Santiso | 2009 |
| Sean Campbell | 2010 |
| Calvin Huggins & Tyler Nimon | 2011 |
| Vinny Mihota | 2012 |
| Gus Little | 2013 |
| Chris Campbell | 2014 |
| Joey Benden | 2015 |
| Trey Carson | 2016 |
| Ricky Perez-Macia | 2017 |
| Teagan McDonald & Miles Washington | 2018 |
