University of Alabama Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is the 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year
University of Alabama sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) has been selected as the 2018 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 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year award included quarterbacks Kyler Murray (Oklahoma), Will Grier (West Virginia) and Gardner Minshew (Washington State) and linebacker Josh Allen (Kentucky).
The 52nd recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Tagovailoa is the second Crimson Tide player to win the prestigious honor, joining running back Derrick Henry (2015). Overall, Tagovailoa is the 20th quarterback to earn the award. Tagovailoa is also the eighth player from a SEC school to win the award.
Tagovailoa has been a standout for the Southeastern Conference champion and top-ranked Crimson Tide (13-0), who will face #4 Oklahoma in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on December 29 at the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla.
A dynamic dual-threat quarterback, Tagovailoa has thrown for 3,353 yards and a school-record 37 touchdowns with just four interceptions on 199-of-294 passing (67.7 percent) this season. He has also rushed for five touchdowns. Tagovailoa ranks second in the nation in passer efficiency rating (202.3) and he guides the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense at 47.9 points per game. The sophomore is tied for second on the UA career touchdown pass list with 48 and has thrown for 300 or more yards a school-record five times this season. His 42 combined passing and rushing touchdowns are also a UA season record.
Tagovailoa, along with members of the 2018 Walter Camp All-America team, and other major award winners (Distinguished American-Archie Manning; Man of the Year-Mike Golic; Perseverance Award-Jake Olson, USC), will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at Yale University’s Lanman Center in New Haven.
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
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
