DALLAS - The PwC SMU Athletic Forum released today the preseason candidates for the 2018 Doak Walker Award. The Forum annually presents the award to the nation’s top college running back.
Among this year’s preseason watch list members were three running backs from the Sun Belt – Appalachian State’s Jalin Moore, Arkansas State's Warren Wand, and Georgia Southern’s Wesley Fields.
Moore ranks second among active FBS players with 3,170 career rushing yards, but he's the only active back with at least 235 rushing yards in four career games.
Wand finished the 2017 campaign by rushing for 715 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Red Wolves’ rushing attack for the second straight season. He averaged 72.2 yards on the ground per game to rank fifth in the Sun Belt Conference, which included rushing for a career-best 173 yards against ULM. The performance against the Warhawks was also the fifth most yards by a running back in league during the 2017 season.
Fields, a native of Americus, Georgia, ran for a team-high 811 yards last season and needs just 15 yards rushing to eclipse the 2,000-yard plateau for his career. He was an honorable mention All-Sun Belt selection last season and made the President's List last semester for achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name ten semifinalists in November, and three finalists, as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, will be announced on November 20. The committee will cast a second vote beginning November 26 to determine the recipient. The National Selection Committee consists of past recipients, former NFL All-Pro and college All-America running backs, media members and selected special representatives.
The recipient of the 2018 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, December 6 on ESPN.
The award, which will name its 29th recipient in 2018, is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It is the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification
University athletic departments nominate candidates for the award and can continue to do so through October. The complete list of candidates is below.
Cam Akers (So.), Florida State
Darius Anderson (Jr.), TCU
Rodney Anderson (Jr.), Oklahoma
Ryquell Armstead (Sr.), Temple
Alex Barnes (Jr.), Kansas State
LeVante Bellamy (Jr.), Western Michigan
Eno Benjamin (So.), Arizona State
KirVonte Benson (Jr.), Georgia Tech
Jamauri Bogan (Sr.), Western Michigan
Tony Brooks-James (Sr.), Oregon
Brittain Brown (So.), Duke
Spencer Brown (So.), UAB
Squally Canada (Sr.), BYU
Stephen Carr (So.), USC
Michael Carter (So.), North Carolina
Andrew Clair (So.), Bowling Green
Matt Colburn, II (Sr.), Wake Forest
Jeremy Cox (Sr.), Old Dominion
Damarea Crockett (Jr.), Missouri
AJ Dillon (So.), Boston College
J.K. Dobbins (So.), Ohio State
Rico Dowdle (Jr.), South Carolina
Ian Eriksen (Sr.), Eastern Michigan
Travis Etienne (So.), Clemson
Wesley Fields (Sr.), Georgia Southern
Myles Gaskin (Sr.), Washington
Darrin Hall (Sr.), Pittsburgh
Damien Harris (Sr.), Alabama
Chase Hayden (So.), Arkansas
Darrell Henderson (Jr.), Memphis
Karan Higdon (Sr.), Michigan
Justice Hill (Jr.), Oklahoma State
Travis Homer (Jr.), Miami
Xavier Jones (Jr.), SMU
Patrick Laird (Sr.), Cal
Jeremy Larkin (Jr.), Northwestern
Bryce Love (Sr.), Stanford
Izzy Matthews (Sr.), Colorado State
Alexander Mattison (Jr.), Boise State
David Montgomery (Jr.), Iowa State
Jalin Moore (Sr.), Appalachian State
Kelton Moore (Jr), Nevada
Zack Moss (Jr.), Utah
Jacques Patrick (Sr.), Florida State
Emmanuel Reed (Jr.), Buffalo
Miles Sanders (Jr.), Penn State
LJ Scott (Sr.), Michigan State
Devin Singletary (Jr.), Florida Atlantic
Rodney Smith (Sr.), Minnesota
Benny Snell (Jr.), Kentucky
D’Andre Swift (So.), Georgia
J.J. Taylor (So.), Arizona
Jonathan Taylor (So.), Wisconsin
Lexington Thomas (Sr.), UNLV
Tavares Thomas (Sr.), Mid Tennessee
Warren Wand (Sr.), Arkansas State
Da’Leon Ward (So.), Texas Tech
Devwah Whaley (Jr.), Arkansas
Aeris Williams (Sr.), Mississippi State
Trayveon Williams (Jr.), Texas A&M
Kenny Young (Sr.), Miami (Ohio)
Marquis Young (Sr.), Massachusetts