Ole Miss sophomore running back Quinshon Judkins has been named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List, as announced by the Walter Camp Football Foundation on Friday.
Judkins is one of 45 players and 11 running backs nationally selected to the watch list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, in addition to being among eight honorees from the SEC.
The Walter Camp Award is the fourth-oldest individual college football accolade, and is named after Walter Camp, the “Father of American football.” Camp, a former Yale athlete and coach, first selected an All-America team in 1889 and is 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.
This is the latest award in a long line for Judkins, who has also already been named to the Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award watch lists in addition to earning Preseason All-America and first-team Preseason All-SEC honors by the SEC media, Walter Camp, Lindy’s, Athlon and Phil Steele.
Judkins is coming off a historic freshman season in 2022, during which he was named CBS’ National Freshman of the Year, On3’s Offensive True Freshman of the Year, the SEC Newcomer and SEC Freshman of the Year, as well as a first-team Freshman All-American by three different publications. Last season, Judkins set the Ole Miss single-season records in both rushing yards (1,567) and rushing touchdowns (16), and ended the year ranked in the national top-10 in rushing yards (No. 7), rushing touchdowns (No. 10) and total touchdowns with 17 (No. 10).
Judkins put together one of the greatest seasons ever by an SEC freshman running back in 2022. His 1,567 yards ranks as the second-most ever by a freshman in SEC history, trailing only Georgia’s Herschel Walker, who ran for 1,616 yards in 1980. Judkins’ historic season also ended ranked No. 11 all-time among Power-5 freshmen and was the most since 2017.
The 2022 watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November. The 2023 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 133 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced on ESPN’s College Football Awards Show in December. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s 57th annual national awards banquet in New Haven, Connecticut in early 2023. Appearing on the preseason Watch List is not a requirement for a player to win the Walter Camp Award or be named to the All-America team.
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 annually selecting an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients since 1935. This season, 12 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday.
Sixteen NCFAA members are unveiling preseason watch lists over a two-week period as the association spearheads a coordinated effort to promote each award’s preseason candidates:
Mon., July 31: Maxwell Award
Tues., Aug. 1: Outland Trophy/Bronko Nagurski Trophy
Wed., Aug. 2: Lou Groza Award/Ray Guy Award
Thurs., Aug. 3: Paul Hornung Award/Wuerffel Trophy
Fri., Aug. 4: Mackey Award/Rimington Trophy
Mon., Aug. 7: Biletnikoff Award
Tues., Aug. 8: Davey O’Brien Award
Wed., Aug. 9: Doak Walker Award
Thurs., Aug. 10: Butkus Award/Paycom Jim Thorpe Award
Fri., Aug. 11: Walter Camp Award
Mon., Aug. 14: Bednarik Award
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
