Doak Walker Award watch list 2017: 5 favorites to win
By John Buhler
The Doak Walker Award recognizes the best running back in the college game. Here are five players named to the 2017 watch list that can wind up winning it.
The Doak Walker Award has quickly become one of the most prestigious awards in all of college football. Since its creation back in 1990, the award recognizes the greatest running back in the college game for that season. It is named after former SMU Mustangs Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker, who dominated in college in the 1940s and in the NFL for the Detroit Lions in the 1950s.
While the modern college game has become increasingly passing centric, nothing beats an excellent running game. When a team has a dominant running back, its chances of winning meaningful ball games go through the roof. Seeing a powerful tailback pull off an unbelievable, tackle-breaking 20-yard run or taking it to the house is always a good time.
On Thursday, the 2017 Doak Walker Award watch list was released. While there are a ton of worthy candidates for the award, here are five running backs that have a great shot of winning it in December.
Kalen Ballage
Running Back, Arizona State Sun Devils
While he has never rushed for 1,000 yards in a season, look for senior running back Kalen Ballage of the Arizona State Sun Devils to set the Pac-12 ablaze with his ground game in 2017. Arizona State may not be a contender for much of anything in the Pac-12 South, but Ballege knows how to find pay dirt for the Sun Devils.
As a junior in 2016, Ballage scored an impressive 14 rushing touchdowns for Arizona State. While he only had 536 rushing yards a year ago, a running back doesn’t end up in the opponent’s end zone 14 times by accident. He’ll need to exceed his career yards per attempt of 4.5 in 2017 to have any shot at the Doak Walker Award, but Ballage should be one of the better running backs in the Pac-12.
Ballage is a runner who has shown a proclivity to score in bunches. A great example of this is how he found pay dirt seven times against the hapless Texas Tech Red Raiders defense in the non-conference. While that was half of his touchdown total a season ago, it had to have been a big boost of confidence for him to set a personal best for him on a season in a single game.
In most instances, it’s not all that advantageous to be a senior running back in college football. However, Ballage has only had 293 career carries in Tempe. At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, he could become a bell-cow back head coach Todd Graham can lean on in the quest for many wins this fall. He will have to break 1,000 yards to be in consideration for the Doak Walker, but Ballage has shown no issue for getting into the end zone.