2015 Walter Camp Player of the Year Preseason Watch List Announced
New Haven, Conn. – The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of fifty “players to watch” for its 2015 Player of the Year award, the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade. TCU senior quarterback Trevone Boykin, a Second Team Walter Camp All-American year ago, headlines the 2015 Watch List. Boykin accounted for 3,901 passing yards and 33 touchdowns, while rushing for 707 yards and eight more touchdowns for the 12-1 Horned Frogs.
FINAL — 2015 Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List
Ten players on the 2015 watch list, including 2014 First Teamers Rashard Higgins (Colorado State, wide receiver) and Scooby Wright III (Arizona, linebacker), have previously earned Walter Camp All-America honors.
In all, 37 schools are represented on the list with defending national champion Ohio State having five players, including its three quarterbacks. There are 37 offensive players (22 quarterbacks, 11 running backs and four receivers) and 13 from the defensive side of the ball (5 linebackers, 5 defensive backs and 3 defensive linemen).
“We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp and recognize the best college football players in the nation,” Foundation president Robert Kauffman said. “This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football.”
The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in mid-November. The 2015 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 128 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 10. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on January 16, 2016 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.
Please note: Appearing on the preseason Watch List is not a requirement for a player to win the Walter Camp award or be named to the All-America team.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation (www.waltercamp.org; @WalterCampFF) – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 22 awards boast over 700 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
The members of the NCFAA unveiled their preseason watch lists over a 12-day period this month. Sixteen of the association’s 22 awards selected a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award’s preseason candidates.
2015 Walter Camp Player of the Year Preseason Watch List
Dante Barrett, Senior, S, Kansas State
J.T. Barrett, Sophomore, QB, Ohio State
Devontae Booker, Senior, RB, Utah
Joey Bosa, Junior, DE, Ohio State*
Trevone Boykin, Senior, QB, TCU #
Shilique Calhoun, Senior, DE, Michigan State#
Jeremy Cash, Senior, DB, Duke #
Nick Chubb, Sophomore, RB, Georgia
James Conner, Junior, RB, Pittsburgh #
Connor Cook, Senior, QB, Michigan State
Su’a Cravens, Junior, LB, USC
Brandon Doughty, Senior, QB, Western Kentucky
DeVon Edwards, Junior, DB/KR, Duke $
Ezekiel Elliott, Junior, RB, Ohio State
Kenneth Farrow, Senior, RB, Houston
Leonard Fournette, Sophomore, RB, LSU
Jarvion Franklin, Sophomore, RB, Western Michigan
Royce Freeman, Sophomore, RB, Oregon
Kendall Fuller, Junior, DB, Virginia Tech #
Will Fuller, Junior, WR, Notre Dame
Jared Goff, Junior, QB, California
Everett Golson, Senior, QB, Florida State
Christian Hackenberg, Junior, QB, Penn State
Vernon Hargreaves III, Junior, LB, Florida #
Derrick Henry, Junior, RB, Alabama
Rashard Higgins, Junior, WR, Colorado State*
Taysom Hill, Senior, QB, BYU
Kevin Hogan, Senior, QB, Stanford
Myles Jack, Junior, RB/LB, UCLA
Devon Johnson, Senior, RB, Marshall
Cardale Jones, Junior, QB, Ohio State
Cody Kessler, Senior, QB, USC
Gunner Kiel, Junior, QB, Cincinnati
Paxton Lynch, Junior, QB, Memphis
Blake Martinez, Senior, LB, Stanford
Elijah McGuire, Junior, RB, Louisiana
Braxton Miller, Senior, QB, Ohio State
Shaun Oakman, Senior, DE, Baylor
Samaje Perine, Sophomore, RB, Oklahoma
Paul Perkins, Junior, RB, UCLA
Dak Prescott, Senior, QB, Mississippi State
Keenan Reynolds, Senior, QB, Navy
Anu Solomon, Sophomore, QB, Arizona
Justin Thomas, Junior, QB, Georgia Tech
Darian Thompson, Senior, DB, Boise State
Laquon Treadwell, Junior, WR, Ole Miss
Deshaun Watson, Sophomore, QB, Clemson
Duke Williams, Senior, WR, Auburn
Scooby Wright III, Junior, LB, Arizona*
Malik Zaire, Sophomore, QB, Notre Dame
* – 2014 Walter Camp First Team All-American
# – 2014 Walter Camp Second Team All-American
$ – 2013 Walter Camp Second Team All-American
