With the holiday weekend behind us, the 2015 college football preseason is officially underway. The SEC will start the run of media days on July 13, but the conversation surrounding the game's best players begins this week with the release of watch lists for each major individual award.
These lists are extremely inclusive, often including 30-60 players, and are by no means the final list as players can be added during the season. So while certain players may not be included for an award they are eligible to receive, that does not mean they have been "snubbed" before taking a single snap. (Just #motivation to #riseandgrind.)
So while watch list season gets a little silly, it is the starting point for our preview of the game's best players. And since watch list season is silly, we're going to get it started with the best watch list of them all: the Watch List Watch List.
(If you want to bookmark this page, we will link up the actual watch lists to their respective awards once they are released).
July 6 -- Paul Hornung Award (Watch List): The Paul Hornung Award sneaks in just before the beginning of the NCFAA watch list roll-out, boasting a 44-player list to celebrate some of college football's best all-purpose players. Named for the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame, the award often highlights the skills of two-way players (like last year's winner, Shaq Thompson) but also celebrates those specialists who have racked up yards in the return game.
2014 Winner: Shaq Thompson, Washington
July 7 -- Bednarik Award and Maxwell Award (Watch Lists): While defensive players are not excluded from contention for the Maxwell Award, given annually to the "player of the year" in college football, their inclusion in the watch list has been more of an exception than the norm -- last season, no defensive players were included on the first watch list. The Maxwell winner is not always the same as the Heisman Trophy winner, though Marcus Mariota won both honors, and a few more, last season. The defenders get their nod from the Bednarik, given to the "defensive player of the year." The reigning winner will be back on the field in 2015 and sure to headline the watch list.
2014 Winners: Scooby Wright III, Arizona (Bednarik); Marcus Mariota, Oregon (Maxwell)
July 8 -- John Mackey Award and Rimington Trophy: The Mackey and Rimington are straightforward awards, selecting the best college football has to offer at two specific positions. Rimington focuses on the men up front, and last year 66 players (nearly half of the projected starting centers in college football) were included in the first watch list. The Mackey was more exclusive with its first announcement last year, only naming 38 players to the watch list.
2014 Winners: Nick O'Leary, Florida State (Mackey); Reese Dismukes, Auburn (Rimington)
July 9 -- Lou Groza Award and Ray Guy Award: Give the kickers some! It's foot day on the watch list roll-out with dozens of place-kickers and punters getting the spotlight for the annual awards given to each specialist.
2014 Winners: Brad Craddock, Maryland (Groza); Tom Hackett, Utah (Ray Guy)
July 10 -- Bronko Nagurski and Outland Trophy: Friday will be the FWAA's (Football Writers Association of America) opportunity to weigh in with watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy, given to the nation's top defensive player, and the Outland, given the nation's best interior lineman. Offensive lineman dominated the 64-player Outland watch list last season and four the last five winners have been tackles, but every now and then someone like Aaron Donald or Ndamukong Suh comes along with a season deserving of both honors.
2014 Winners: Scooby Wright III, Arizona (Nagurski); Brandon Scherff, Iowa (Outland)
July 13 -- Jim Thorpe Award: Here's where I bet we'll have talk of players getting "snubbed." The average fan doesn't see the secondary work from the angle provided by television coverage, so stats, film analysis and scouting become the tools to judge the nation's most impressive defensive backs. There are a few players we know to be incredibly gifted, like Florida's Vernon Hargreaves III, but the award is more often given to players with quantifiable production, like Gerod Holliman, a player not included on the watch list who put together a 14-interception performance last season.
2014 Winner: Gerod Holliman, Louisville
July 14 -- Butkus Award and Rotary Lombardi Award: The Lombardi casts a wide net with the inclusion of offensive lineman, defensive lineman and linebackers in the field of eligible winners. That wide net results in one of the more bloated lists of the preseason, with 100+ players named to last season's watch list. Many of those Lombardi list names will also be found on the Butkus Award's list of linebackers. Both awards landed in the Pac-12 South last season, with Eric Kendricks getting the Butkus over Scooby Wright III.
2014 Winners: Eric Kendricks, UCLA (Butkus); Scooby Wright III, Arizona (Lombardi)
July 15 -- Biletnikoff Award and Wuerffel Trophy: The Biletnikoff discussion is always a fun one because of the pride that is associated with players themselves claiming to be the "best receiver in the game." Eventually, the award will be decided by a 275-person voting panel, but for now the conversation will take place on sports radio, in sports bars and in locker rooms across the country. The Wuerffel Trophy is a community service and academic award.
2014 Winners: Amari Cooper, Alabama (Biletnikoff); Deterrian Shackelford, Ole Miss (Wuerffel)
July 16 -- Davey O'Brien Award and Doak Walker Award: Quarterbacks and running backs that will likely be included on most of the "player of the year" watch lists get to double up here with the respective position-specific awards.
2014 Winners: Marcus Mariota, Oregon (Davey O'Brien); Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin (Doak Walker)
July 17 -- Walter Camp Award and William V. Campbell Trophy: After two long weeks of watch lists, we stop watching for a while. Walter Camp, another player of the year honor, and the William Campbell Trophy, given to the nation's top scholar-athlete, wrap up the two-week binge of bios and resume projections.
2014 Winners: Marcus Mariota, Oregon (Walter Camp); David Helton, Duke (William V. Campbell).
