Walter Camp Football Foundation Announces Twenty “Players to Watch” for 2019 Player of the Year Award
The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of twenty “Players to Watch” for its 2019 Player of the Year award, the fourth-oldest college football award in the nation.
“It’s been another exciting college football season with many teams and players still in the hunt for national recognition,” Foundation president Mario Coppola said. “We’ve identified some outstanding players and we know the final weeks of the regular season should be even more thrilling.”
Players from the top 12 teams in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings are on the list, including quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase from top-ranked LSU (10-0). Running back JK Dobbin and quarterback Justin Fields from second-ranked Ohio State (10-0) are on the watch list along with three players – quarterback Trevor Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne and linebacker Isaiah Simmons – from third-ranked Clemson (11-0).
The 20-player watch list includes six running backs, six quarterbacks, four receivers/tight ends and four defensive players. Fourteen different schools and five conferences are represented on the list.
The Walter Camp Player of the Year is voted on by the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors. A list of five finalists will be announced on Thursday, December 5, and the winner announced on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 12.
The 2019 Player of the Year will be recognized along with the Walter Camp All-America team at the Foundation’s national awards dinner on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at Yale University’s Lanman Center.
The 2018 Walter Camp Player of the Year was Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
2019 Walter Camp Player of the Year Semifinalists
Joe Burrow, QB, Senior, LSU
Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Sophomore, LSU
AJ Dillon, RB, Junior, Boston College
JK Dobbins, RB, Junior, Ohio State
Travis Etienne, RB, Junior, Clemson
Justin Fields, QB, Sophomore, Ohio State
Justin Herbert, QB, Senior, Oregon
Chuba Hubbard, RB, Sophomore, Oklahoma State
Tyler Huntley, QB, Senior, Utah
Jalen Hurts, QB, Senior, Oklahoma
Cee Dee Lamb, WR, Junior, Oklahoma
Trevor Lawrence, QB, Junior, Clemson
Micah Parsons, LB, Sophomore, Penn State
Kyle Pitts, TE, Sophomore, Florida
Isaiah Simmons, LB, Redshirt Junior, Clemson
Devonta Smith, WR, Junior, Alabama
D’Andre Swift, RB, Junior, Georgia
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Junior, Wisconsin
Antoine Winfield, DB, RS Sophomore, Minnesota
Chase Young, DE, Junior, Ohio State
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 (www.waltercamp.org,@WalterCampFF) – 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 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. For more information, visit the association’s website, www.ncfaa.org
