2012 Walter Camp Award Watch List: Will ACC Get Its First Winner Since 1993?

We continue the reveal of the awards watch lists, as today brings us the Walter Camp Award Watch List. The Walter Camp Award is given to the Player of the Year in addition to their All-American teams and the gang of other awards the organization gives out. Last year Andrew Luck, after missing out on the Heisman, took home the Camp Player of the Year Award to go with his Maxwell Trophy. This year, there are big names, including guys like Sammy Watkins, Landry Jones and Matt Barkley; all semifinalists from a season ago.

With so many conferences represented on the watch list, it appears to be anyone's game. Matt Barkley is everyone's darling for every award and given the Pac-12's strength in having Luck, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart win the award in the last decade, the senior has got a great shot. The candidates out of the Big 12, SEC and Big Ten are on equally solid footing. Each of those leagues boasts multiple winners in the last decade. Even the Big East has got Larry Fitzgerald to their credit as a Camp Player of the Year.

The only major conference to not get any run from the award in the last decade? The ACC.

The last time the ACC took home the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award was in 1993. Back when Charlie Ward was giving defensive coordinators nightmares and the Seminoles were a monster that was just bigger, faster and stronger than just about everyone else. Charlie Ward took the Camp Award home and no one from the ACC has hoisted the trophy since then. 

The good news for the ACC this season is that of the 50 players on the watch list, the conference boasts 12. The bad news for the ACC is that half of those players play on the defensive side of the ball. Charles Woodson was the last defensive player to win the award in 1997, and no disrespect to Brandon Jenkins, David Amerson and Joe Vellano, but they are not Charles Woodson from an impact standpoint.

That leaves the league with just Tajh Boyd, Logan Thomas and Sammy Watkins as their preseason hopes. Much like Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree hurt each other as they pushed for the Heisman in 2008, Boyd and Watkins are tied together and destined to split votes. Logan Thomas is the league's best hope entering 2012. 

While the NFL knows all about the potential that is Logan Thomas, many fans and media members are still skeptical of the young quarterback. It is going to take a mammoth effort from not just Thomas on the stat sheet, but out of the Hokies as a team to position him to take home the award. The Hokies are going to be finding their way in both the run and passing game, as all the reliable skill players Thomas possessed a year ago are now gone. 

The ACC has a shot, but given the splitting of the Clemson vote and the breaking in of new bodies for Logan Thomas; fans should expect the ACC's Walter Camp Player of the Year drought to continue for yet another season.