The player who may have saved Kentucky's football season was honored Tuesday as the Lexington Herald-Leader announced that Lynn Bowden Jr. has been named the winner of the 39th annual Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year award.

Bowden was named the winner in voting by 169 current and former media members across the Commonwealth. He edged out former Louisville quarterback and current Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson, as well as former Murray State guard and current Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant, for the honor.

After the Wildcats lost their top three quarterbacks to injury, Bowden made the shift from wide receiver to signal-caller five weeks into the season. What followed was one of the greatest individual performances in UK football history.

The Youngstown, Ohio, native won six of his eight starts at quarterback. He set a school record for single-season and career rushing yards by a quarterback and broke the SEC's single-game rushing record for a quarterback, among a slew of other records.

Bowden averaged a national-high 7.94 yards per rushing attempt. His 1,468 rushing yards as a junior were the second-most in program history behind only Moe Williams' 1,600 in 1995. He also had 348 yards receiving and starred on special teams, winning the Paul Hornung Award honoring the country's most versatile player and was named a first-team AP All-American.

He capped his phenomenal campaign by rushing for a quarterback bowl-record 233 yards and two touchdowns while passing for the game-winner in UK's 37-30 win over Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.

Bowden will forgo his final season of eligibility with the Cats and enter the 2020 NFL Draft.