X-League
Year Winner Position Team
2014 Colby Cameron Quarterback Fujitsu Frontiers
2015 Mason Mills Quarterback Asahi Beer Silver Star
2016 Devin Gardner Quarterback Nojima Sagamihara Rise
2017 Taku Li Running Back Obic Seagulls
2018 Michael Birdsong Quarterback Fujitsu Frontiers
2019 Samajie Grant Running Back Fujitsu Frontiers
Awards and honors -- X-League Rookie of the Year ( ROY ) award
The X-League Rookie of the Year award ( X-League ROY ) is an award given to the player who is considered have made a big impact during his first year with his team . Started in 2012 , the award was divided between the best player in each division until 2014 when one overall ROY was awarded . Year Division Winner Position Team 2012 East Kohei Arai Center Kajima Deers Central Kevin Craft Quarterback IBM Big Blue West Hisashi Kurokawa Offensive Tackle Panasonic Impulse 2013 East Jinpei Yoshimoto Wide Receiver Fujitsu Frontiers Central Kealakai Maiava Offensive Tackle Obic Seagulls West David Motu Linebacker Panasonic Impulse
The X-League (Xリーグ) is the top-level American football league in Japan. It was founded in 1971 as the Japan American Football League, and changed its name to the X League in 1997. There are three divisions (X1, X2, and X3) among which there is promotion and relegation. Teams in the three-tier league are split into East, West, and Central divisions. There are two types of teams, one being a company team in which only employees of that particular sponsoring company may participate as a player, and the other classified as a club team for which anyone can try out. Game rules are based on those of the NCAA college division in the United States, with the exception of the length of quarters, which are 12 minutes instead of 15 during the first stage of the season. The Japanese national team, which has won the first and second editions of the American Football World Cup and was runner-up, finishing second to the American team, in the 2007 installment of the tournament, was made up almost entirely of players from this league. Americans are often recruited to play for X League teams, with a strict rule of four per team. No more than two foreign players per team are allowed on the field of play at a time.