The 40-player list includes three Big Ten students that earned Walter Camp All-America honors last season – first-team honoree Desmond King of Iowa and second-team selections in Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis and Ohio State’s Raekwon McMillan.
Advertisement
Who is the best football player on Clemson? In addition, King was named one of five finalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, named the Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Conference Defensive Back of the Year, and was voted first team All-Big Ten by Walter Camp, Associated Press, AFCA, FWAA, Sporting News, USA Today, SI.com, ESPN.com, Athlon Spots, ProFootballFocus.com, Phil Steele, and College Sports Madness.
Russell’s inclusion on the Walter Camp preseason watch list marks the fourth straight season that Baylor has had a player on the list (Lache Seastrunk in 2013, Bryce Petty in 2014, Shawn Oakman in 2015). Jackson, meanwhile, built on an impressive freshman season by rushing for 1,418 yards as a sophomore, a total ranking second in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State star and top-five NFL Draft pick Ezekiel Elliott. Last season the two combined for 97 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two interceptions, one sack, 601 kick-return yards, 194 punt-return yards and a touchdown. He was named the 2015 Freshman of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus.
Watson led Clemson to the National Championship game a year ago when he threw for over 4,000 yards and ran for over 1100, the first FBS quarterback to reach those levels in history. “This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football”.
Leggett was also a second-team All-America by Walter Camp past year with 40 receptions for 525 yards and eight touchdowns. The announcement was made Friday by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November.
Advertisement
The Walter Camp Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. 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 members of the NCFAA unveiled their preseason watch lists over a 12-day period this month.
