Alabama Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith is the 2020 Walter Camp Player of the Year
University of Alabama senior wide receiver DeVonta Smith (Amite, LA) has been selected as the 2020 Walter Camp Player of the Year. The Walter Camp Player of the Year is voted on by the nation’s 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.
The 54th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Smith is the third Alabama player to win the prestigious honor, joining quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (2018) and running back Derrick Henry (2015).
Overall, Smith is the sixth wide receiver to earn the award, and the first since Larry Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh) in 2003. Smith is also the tenth player from a SEC school to win the award since it began in 1967.
Smith has been the catalyst for top-ranked Alabama’s high-octane offense. He leads the nation in receptions (105), receiving yards (1,641), receiving touchdowns (20) and all-purpose yards (1,912). He holds the Alabama single-season record for receiving touchdowns, while ranking second in both receiving yards and receptions.
The 2020 SEC Offensive Player of the Year, Smith has eclipsed at least 100 yards receiving in eight of 12 contests in 2020, including a pair of 200-plus yard performances highlighted by his 219-yard effort at LSU.
He is just the third player in SEC history with 1,200 receiving yards in multiple seasons and the fourth Crimson Tide wideout to eclipse the 1,000-yard marker in multiple seasons.
Smith was dominant in the Crimson Tide’s five games against ranked opponents, totaling 46 receptions for 715 yards and nine touchdowns. In addition, Smith has nine punt returns for 219 yards and a touchdown to go with three kickoffs totaling 46 yards
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 – 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 Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.
Walter Camp Players of the Year
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
