The long wait is nearly over as football fans are less than two months away from the start of the 2014 college football season. With the season approaching, the presenters of various college football awards have started releasing their "watch lists" for the season.
The Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation's top running back, released its watch list Thursday. There are 53 players on the list, headed by Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon and Georgia's Todd Gurley. Gordon was a semifinalist last season, when the award was won by Boston College's Andre Williams; Gordon is trying to become the third Wisconsin player to win the award, joining Ron Dayne (1999) and Montee Ball (2012).
Gurley is attempting to become the first Georgia player to win the award, which has been around since 1990.
2014 Doak Walker Award watch list
Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska
Jay Ajayi, Boise State
Javorius "Buck" Allen, USC
Leon Allen, Western Kentucky
Terry Baggett, Army
Bill Belton, Penn State
Malcolm Brown, Texas
Tra Carson, Texas A&M
B.J. Catalon, TCU
David Cobb, Minnesota
Tevin Coleman, Indiana
Alex Collins, Arkansas
James Conner, Pittsburgh
Marcus Cox, Appalachian State
Mike Davis, South Carolina
Kenneth Dixon, Louisiana Tech
Jahwan Edwards, Ball State
Kenneth Farrow, Houston
Josh Ferguson, Illinois
D.J. Foster, Arizona State
Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
Michael Gordon, Arkansas State
Johnathan Gray, Texas
Todd Gurley, Georgia
Kenneth Harper, Temple
Alonzo Harris, Louisiana
Derrick Henry, Alabama
Bronson Hill, Eastern Michigan
Joe Hill, Utah State
Duke Johnson, Miami
Jeremy Langford, Michigan State
Daniel Lasco, California
Shock Linwood, Baylor
Robert Lowe, Texas State
Tre Madden, USC
Terrence Magee, LSU
Raymond Maples, Army
Byron Marshall, Oregon
Kevin Parks, Virginia
Christian Powell, Colorado
Donnel Pumphrey, San Diego State
Josh Robinson, Mississippi State
William Stanback, UCF
Cameron Stingily, Northern Illinois
Kelvin Taylor, Florida
Thomas Tyner, Oregon
Jamaal Williams, BYU
Jonathan Williams, Arkansas
Trey Williams, Texas A&M
Aaron Wimberly, Iowa State
T.J. Yeldon, Alabama
Kelsey Young, Stanford
Zach Zwinak, Penn State
