LAS VEGAS (AFLWA) – After a record-setting season, Las Vegas Gladiators offensive specialist Marcus Nash was named the Arena Football League Writers Association Player of the Year on Monday.

Nash

"I'm not a big awards-type guy, but at the same time, when you get an award that says you're the best in the league for that year, it's always special," Nash said. "I'm always thankful for those awards and feel blessed for those awards. I'll take it and be as humble as I can because at any time, you never know what's going to happen."

Nash won a close vote, receiving six first-place votes and 32 points. Arizona Rattlers quarterback Sherdrick Bonner was second with five first-place votes and 30 points, and Los Angeles Avengers quarterback Tony Graziani finished third with four first-place votes and 28 points.

The finalists were selected by the AFLWA's board of directors and voted on by the general membership.

This award continued a postseason of honors for Nash, who was named the Arena Football League's Offensive Player of the Year. He also was selected to the All-AFL team.

Nash set a league record with 154 receptions and tied another mark with 46 touchdown catches. He also led the AFL with 49 touchdowns overall and 300 points. Plus, Nash caught 1,771 yards in passes in helping the Gladiators win five of their final six games to finish 8-8.

"Sitting back and watching Arizona and San Jose play for the championship kind of brings up some of those sore things, but on the whole I think we had a really good season," Nash said. "We were able to finish up better than we started. If we had started better, it would've been a totally different situation."

The AFLWA, founded at the start of the 2004 season, is a national organization made up of media members who cover the Arena Football League. Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is the AFLWA's founder and executive director.