One Penn State Player on Award Watch List, One is Not

During Penn State's 2008 football season, running back Evan Royster started to become a popular name among Big Ten running backs. He finished third in the conference in total rushing yards, scored 12 touchdowns, and had a rushing average of 6.5 yards per carry.

All of Royster's hard work lead him to become a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, presented annually to the top running back in college football.

So it should come as a surprise that Royster was not named on the 2009 watch list, which came out today.  Of the 45 names on the initial watch list, Royster's name somehow fell through the cracks.

Ask yourself this: How can the running back with the most rushing yards (that is returning in 2009) in the Big Ten not be on the list? Considering the same player was a semifinalist for the same award just last season, it is absurd!

Royster is being widely regarded as one of the top running backs in the Big Ten, if not the best. The venerable college football preview expert Phil Steele lists Royster as the ninth best running back in the nation, and tops in the Big Ten, in this year's preview magazine.

This blatant omission is even more puzzling because Big Ten running backs have a strong history with the Doak Walker Award. A running back from the conference has won the award five times since its incarnation in 1990.

Only the Big XII conference has had a running back win the award more times (six—including twice by Ricky Williams of Texas). A Big Ten running back has won the award three times this decade, including Penn State's Larry Johnson in 2002. Last year Iowa's Shonn Green was handed the award.

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg has even more scathing criticism of the Doak Walker Award watch list, pointing out that to have players that only had a fraction of the success Royster had in 2008 on the list and not Penn State's back is a joke.

But calm down Penn State fans, for the omission is not the fault of the Doak Walker people.

The initial list that was released is actually a non-traditional list of players nominated by the universities. After hearing from Jeff Lockhart, Manager of Athletic Forum and Programs at Guaranty Bank SMU Athletic Forum, and one of the contacts for the Doak Walker Award, he tells me that Penn State has not yet nominated Royster for the award. 

"The candidate list we released today is not a traditional 'watch list' that is selected by our organization, but a list of candidates that have been nominated by their universities as of Aug. 4," Lockhart said.

He goes on to say that Royster not being on the initial list will in no way negatively impact Royster's chances of competing for the award. Because Royster was a semifinalist in 2008, Lockhart seems to believe that Royster will be in the mix once the season gets going, and Penn State will fulfill the nomination.

So the Blue Royster Cult does not have to start sending negative mail to the Doak Walker folks. Instead we should be wondering why Penn State has not already nominated Royster? Academics are supposed to be a part of the nomination, but there have been no stories of any academic struggles by Royster.

Daryll Clark is among four Big Ten quarterbacks named to the Davey O'Brien Award watch list.

On Monday the list was released and Clark headlined the names from the Big Ten, which also included Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor, Minnesota's Adam Weber, and Juice Williams of Illinois. To see Clark and Pryor on the preseason list is no surprise.

Semifinalists for the Davey O'Brien Award, which honors the best quarterback in college football, will be released Oct. 26, with the finalists being named Nov. 23.  The award winner will be announced Dec. 10.

Penn State has had two Davey O'Brien Award winners in the program's history. Todd Blackledge was honored in 1982 during the school's first national championship season.  Kerry Collins, quarterback of the undefeated 1994 team, was named the winner that season as well.

Michael Robinson was Penn State's most recent semi-finalist in 2005.

Sam Bradford, of Oklahoma, was the 2008 Davey O'Brien Award winner and is also among the 33 players on the watch list. Other players like Florida's Tim Tebow, Texas' Colt McCoy, and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen are also on the list.

This post was a combination of a pair of recent posts on Examiner.com. Click here for the original Daryll Clark post and here for the original Evan Royster post.