Benny Snell, Damien Harris named to Doak Walker watch list
Benny Snell Jr. of Kentucky and former Madison Southern High School standout Damien Harris of Alabama were among 61 preseason candidates named Thursday for the 2017 Doak Walker Award.
The award annually is given to the nation’s top college running back.
Also named to the list was Western Kentucky redshirt junior D’Andre Ferby.
Snell, a sophomore from Westerville, Ohio, earned a spot on Athlon’s 2017 preseason Southeastern Conference third-team offense after a stellar freshman season. He set six UK freshman records, including most rushing touchdowns in a game (four), most rushing yards (1,091), most rushing touchdowns (13), most total touchdowns (13), most 100-yard rushing games (five) and most rushing yards in a single game (192). He was named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, ESPN and 247Sports.
Harris, entering his junior year at Alabama, led the national runner-up Crimson Tide in rushing in 2016 with 1,037 yards on 146 carries and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.
Ferby, from Nashville, missed all of last season after suffering an injury on his first carry of the year. As a freshman in 2015, Ferby rushed for 650 yards on 164 carries with 11 touchdowns.
The award is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It honors the nation’s top back but also requires all candidates be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classifications.
2017 Doak Walker Award candidates
Josh Adams (Jr.), Notre Dame | Ryquell Armstead (Jr.), Temple |
Kalen Ballage (Sr.), Arizona State | Saquon Barkley (Jr.), Penn State |
Alex Barnes (So.), Kansas State | Jamauri Bogan (Jr.), Western Michigan |
D’Angelo Brewer (Sr.), Tulsa | Nick Chubb (Sr.), Georgia |
Jordan Chunn (Sr.), Troy | Justin Crawford (Sr.), West Virginia |
Damarea Crockett (So.), Missouri | Rico Dowdle (So.), South Carolina |
D’Andre Ferby (Jr.), WKU | Kendrick Foster (Sr.), Illinois |
Jarvion Franklin (Sr.), Western Michigan | Myles Gaskin (Jr.), Washington |
James Gilbert (Jr.), Ball State | Derrius Guice (Jr.), LSU |
Damien Harris (Jr.), Alabama | Kyle Hicks (Sr.), TCU |
Justice Hill (So.), Oklahoma State | Jon Hilliman (Jr.), Boston College |
Justin Jackson (Sr.), Northwestern | Chris James (Jr.), Wisconsin |
Ty Johnson (Jr.), Maryland | Ronald Jones, II (Jr.), USC |
Ray Lawry (Sr.), Old Dominion | Phillip Lindsay (Sr.), Colorado |
Tonny Lindsey Jr. (Sr.), Utah State | Bryce Love (Jr.), Stanford |
Sony Michel (Sr.), Georgia | Dedrick Mills (So.), Georgia Tech |
David Montgomery (So.), Iowa State | Jamal Morrow (Sr.), Washington State |
Ryan Nall (Jr.), Oregon State | Jacques Patrick (Jr.), Florida State |
Kamryn Pettway (Jr.), Auburn | Demario Richard (Sr.), Arizona State |
Diocemy Saint Juste (Sr.), Hawaii | Bo Scarbrough (Jr.), Alabama |
Jordan Scarlett (Jr.), Florida | LJ Scott (Jr.), Michigan State |
Bradrick Shaw (So.), Wisconsin | Armand Shyne (Jr.), Utah |
Justin Silmon (Jr.), Kansas State | Ito Smith (Sr.), Southern Mississippi |
Rodney Smith (Jr.), Minnesota | Benny Snell, Jr. (So.), Kentucky |
Terry Swanson (Sr.), Toledo | Shaq Vann (Jr.), Eastern Michigan |
Akrum Wadley (Sr.), Iowa | Mark Walton (Jr.), Miami |
Warren Wand (Jr.), Arkansas State | Tre Watson (Sr.), Cal |
Ralph Webb (Sr.), Vanderbilt | Mike Weber (So.), Ohio State |
Braeden West (Jr.), SMU | Devwah Whaley (So.), Arkansas |
Aeris Williams (Jr.), Mississippi State | Shaun Wilson (Sr.), Duke |
Marquis Young (Jr.), Massachusetts |
This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Benny Snell, Damien Harris named to Doak Walker watch list."