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.

Other finalists for the 2020 Walter Camp Player of the Year award included quarterbacks Mac Jones (Alabama), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson) and Kyle Trask (Florida) along with running back Najee Harris (Alabama).

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

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