Skip to Main Content
Walter Camp Football Foundation
Walter CampFootball Foundation
Awards
November 11th, 2026
5 min read
By Walter Camp Football Foundation

Walter Camp Announces 2026 Player of Year Semifinalists

Walter Camp Announces 2026 Player of Year Semifinalists

The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of twenty “semifinalists” for its 2026 Player of the Year award, the fourth-oldest college football award in the nation.

The semifinalist list includes nine quarterbacks, six defensive players, three running backs and two wide receivers.

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

The Walter Camp Player of the Year will be voted on by the 138 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors later this month.Five finalists will be announced later this month and the 60th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of Year award along with the 137th edition of the Walter Camp All-America team – the nation’s oldest – will be announced on the ESPN College Football Awards Show on Friday, December 11.

The 2026 winner will be awarded his trophy at the Foundation’s National Awards Dinner in late February in Nashville, Tennessee.

Walter Camp Player of Year Facts

  • First awarded in 1967, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza was the 59th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of Year award last season. Mendoza was the 24th 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 2026 Player of Year Semifinalists

Rasheem Biles, LB, Texas

DeSean Bishop, RB, Tennessee

C.J. Carr, QB, Notre Dame

Arion Carter, LB, Tennessee

Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss

Devon Dampier, QB, Utah

Gio Lopez, QB, Wake Forest

Darian Mensah, QB, Miami

Drew Mestemaker, QB, Oklahoma State

Leonard Moore, DB, Notre Dame

Sammy Omosigho, LB, UCLA

Tobi Osunsanmi, Edge, Indiana

Jamal Roberts, RB, Missouri

Keelon Russell, QB, Alabama

LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina

Nate Sheppard, RB, Duke

Colin Simmons, DE, Texas

Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State

Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia

Malachi Toney, WR, Miami


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.