2026 Walter Camp Player of Year Watch List to be unveiled on Monday, August 17 as part of NCFAA Awards Rollout

The 2026 Walter Camp Player of Year Watch List will be unveiled on Monday, August 17 as part of annual National College Football Awards Association preseason rollout.

2026 Preseason Watch List Calendar

 

The Walter Camp Player of Year award is the nation’s fourth-oldest college football award, first awarded in 1967.

Former Indiana quarterback (and current Las Vegas Raider) Fernando Mendoza was the 2025 Walter Camp Player of Year.

Walter Camp Player of Year Facts

• First awarded in 1967, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza was the 59^th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of Year award.
• Mendoza was the 24^th quarterback to win the award. There have been 25 running backs, five wide receivers, one wide receiver/defensive back, one tight end and three defensive players.
• Colorado’s Travis Hunter (2024) was the first two-way player to win the award.
• Three players – USC’s OJ. Simpson (1967, 1968), Ohio State’s Archie Griffin (1974, 1975) and Texas’ Colt McCoy (2008, 2009) have been multiple winners.
• Three defensive players have won the award – Pittsburgh’s Hugh Green (1980), Michigan’s Charles Woodson (1997) and Notre Dame’s Manti Teo (2012).
• Players from 26 different schools have earned the award. USC has won the most Player of Year awards (7), followed by Oklahoma, Ohio State and Notre Dame with four each.

Walter Camp Players of the Year (1967-2025)

2025 – Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana

2024 – Travis Hunter, WR/DB, Colorado

2023 – Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU

2022 – Caleb Williams, QB, USC

2021 – Kenneth Walker III, RB, Michigan State

2020 – DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

2019 – Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

2018 – Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama

2017 – Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma

2016 – Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville

2015 – Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama

2014 – Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon

2013 – Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State

2012 – Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame

2011 – Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford

2010 – Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2009 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

2008 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

2007 – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas

2006 – Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State

2005 – Reggie Bush, RB, USC

2004 – Matt Leinart, QB, USC

2003 – Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pittsburgh

2002 – Larry Johnson, RB, Penn State

2001 – Eric Crouch, QB, Nebraska

2000 – Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma

1999 – Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin

1998 – Ricky Williams, RB, Texas

1997 – Charles Woodson, DB, Michigan

1996 – Danny Wuerffel, QB, Florida

1995 – Eddie George, RB, Ohio State

1994 – Rashaan Salaam, RB, Colorado

1993 – Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State

1992 – Gino Torretta, QB, Miami

1991 – Desmond Howard, WR, Michigan

1990 – Raghib Ismail, WR, Notre Dame

1989 – Anthony Thompson, RB, Indiana

1988 – Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State

1987 – Tim Brown, WR, Notre Dame

1986 – Vinny Testaverde, QB, Miami

1985 – Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn

1984 – Doug Flutie, QB, Boston College

1983 – Mike Rozier, RB, Nebraska

1982 – Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia

1981 – Marcus Allen, RB, USC

1980 – Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh

1979 – Charles White, RB, USC

1978 – Billy Sims, RB, Oklahoma

1977 – Ken MacAfee, TE, Notre Dame

1976 – Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh

1975 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State

1974 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State

1973 – John Cappelletti, RB, Penn State

1972 – Johnny Rodgers, RB, Nebraska

1971 – Pat Sullivan, QB, Auburn

1970 – Jim Plunkett, QB, Stanford

1969 – Steve Owens, RB, Oklahoma

1968 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC

1967 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC

 

Considered the “Father of American Football,” Walter Camp introduced the play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side in 1880.   Nine years later, Mr. Camp, then the Yale University head coach, selected the first-ever college football All-America team.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation – 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.  Visit www.waltercamp.org for more information.   The Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 25 awards have honored more than 950 recipients dating back to 1935.