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When I fired up the ole Twitter machine this morning to get my daily serving of people being mad online, I was reminded that today starts the most unimportant portion of the college football off-season.
#BYU QB Zach Wilson has been named to Maxwell Award Watch List. Maxwell Award goes to the best all-around player in college football.
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 15, 2019
I am referring to “Watch List” season. This is a special time of year in which unknown committees of people collect a list of pretty much every college football player to be considered for one of their end-of-year awards. Some media folks and fans see this as a legitimate recognition, where their players are getting the praise they deserve. But if you look closely at these lists, they mean absolutely nothing.
Just like the pre-season top 25 rankings, these watch lists are straight-up guesses. Did you quarterback throw for more than five touchdowns last year? Congrats, you’re on the Davey O’Brien Watch List. Did your receiver catch a touchdown pass that got him featured on SportsCenter? Well guess what, he’s on the Biletnikoff Watch List. Do you have a player over 300 lbs on your roster? You better believe he’s on the Outland Watch List. Then there’s the Maxwell Watch List does a great job of covering all their bases with a list of 80 players (all of which are listed below). Some of these guys didn’t even play last year!
These lists can be catnip for BYU fans because there is a common sentiment that the players and coaches in Provo get overlooked by the national media. So when a college football award committee comes out with a fancy list that includes Zach Wilson or Matt Bushman there is a false sense of validation.
But make no mistake — The only real validation will come on football field, you know, when games are actually being played. It might feel nice knowing that someone besides the local media knows the names of the players on BYU’s roster but these lists mean little else.
So let’s hold off on getting excited about shot in the dark predictions and instead save that energy for when we win a game or two.
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2019 Maxwell Award Watch List
Cam Akers RB Junior Florida State
LeVante Bellamy RB Senior Western Michigan
Eno Benjamin RB Junior Arizona State
Jake Bentley QB Senior South Carolina
Ian Book QB Senior Notre Dame
Alan Bowman QB Sophomore Texas Tech
Charlie Brewer QB Junior Baylor
Spencer Brown RB Junior UAB
Kelly Bryant QB Senior Missouri
Joe Burrow QB Senior LSU
Reggie Corbin RB Senior Illinois
K.J. Costello QB Senior Stanford
JT Daniels QB Sophomore USC
AJ Dillon RB Junior Boston College
J.K. Dobbins RB Junior Ohio State
Jacob Eason QB Junior Washington
Clyde Edwards-Helaire RB Junior LSU
Sam Ehlinger QB Junior Texas
Travis Etienne RB Junior Clemson
Darrynton Evans RB Junior Appalachian State
Maurice Ffrench WR Senior Pitt
Justin Fields QB Sophomore Ohio State
Mason Fine QB Senior North Texas
Feleipe Franks QB Junior Florida
Jake Fromm QB Junior Georgia
James Gilbert RB Senior Kansas State
Jarrett Guarantano QB Junior Tennessee
KJ Hamler WR Sophomore Penn State
Najee Harris RB Junior Alabama
Justin Herbert QB Senior Oregon
Kylin Hill RB Junior Mississippi State
Kelvin Hopkins QB Senior Army
Chuba Hubbard RB Sophomore Oklahoma State
Jalen Hurts QB Senior Oklahoma
Jerry Jeudy WR Junior Alabama
Tyler Johnson WR Senior Minnesota
Joshua Kelley RB Senior UCLA
Adrian Killins RB Senior UCF
D’Eriq King QB Senior Houston
CeeDee Lamb WR Junior Oklahoma
Trevor Lawrence QB Sophomore Clemson
Jordan Love QB Junior Utah State
Adrian Martinez QB Sophomore Nebraska
Cole McDonald QB Junior Hawaii
Anthony McFarland RB Sophomore Maryland
Kirk Merritt WR Senior Arkansas State
Kellen Mond QB Junior Texas A&M
Steven Montez QB Senior Colorado
Rondale Moore WR Sophomore Purdue
Zack Moss RB Senior Utah
Jaret Patterson RB Sophomore Buffalo
Shea Patterson QB Senior Michigan
Lamical Perine RB Senior Florida
Bryce Perkins QB Senior Virginia
Malcolm Perry QB Senior Navy
Scottie Phillips RB Senior Ole Miss
James Proche WR Senior SMU
Brock Purdy QB Sophomore Iowa State
Jalen Reagor WR Junior TCU
Justyn Ross WR Sophomore Clemson
Nathan Rourke QB Senior Ohio
Anthony Russo QB Junior Temple
Stevie Scott RB Sophomore Indiana
Laviska Shenault WR Junior Colorado
B.J. Smith RB Senior Troy
Nate Stanley QB Senior Iowa
D’Andre Swift RB Junior Georgia
Tua Tagovailoa QB Junior Alabama
Khalil Tate QB Senior Arizona
Toa Taua RB Sophomore Nevada
J.J. Taylor RB Junior Arizona
Patrick Taylor RB Senior Memphis
Jonathan Taylor RB Junior Wisconsin
Zac Thomas QB Junior Appalachian State
Ke’Shawn Vaughn RB Senior Vanderbilt
Tylan Wallace WR Junior Oklahoma State
Michael Warren RB Junior Cincinnati
Juwan Washington RB Senior San Diego State
Ryan Willis QB Senior Virginia Tech
Zach Wilson QB Sophomore BYU