7/20/2019 football Edit

Indiana Football: RB Stevie Scott III On Doak Walker Award Watch List

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

Watch list season is officially in full swing and Indiana football's roster can another preseason honor already. Sophomore running back Stevie Scott III was named to the preseason watch list for the 2019 Doak Walker Award, the program announced Wednesday afternoon. This comes after Scott was one of 80 names on the Maxwell Award watch list on Monday, given annually to America's College Player of the Year since 1937.

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Indiana Hoosiers football standout Stevie Scott is one of nine Big Ten players who landed on the 2019 Doak Walker Award preseason watch list. (Stu Jackson / TheHoosier.com)

The Doak Walker award has been given annually to college football's top running back since 1989. Scott is one of 73 candidates on the preseason watch list.

The Syracuse, N.Y., native set IU true freshman marks in yardage, attempts (228), touchdowns (10) and 100-yard games (6) and became the 13th Hoosier (19th time) to reach 1,000 yards in a single season. His 1,137 rushing yards last season ranks as the 14th-best single season total in school history.

Amongst true freshmen running backs nationally, Scott ranked second in yardage, 100-yard games and attempts, and third in rushing TDs. He averaged 101.9 all-purpose yards per game, 94.8 rushing yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry to go along with 16 receptions for 86 yards and one score en route to All-Big Ten honorable mention recognition and two Big Ten freshman of the week honors.

The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November. Those 10 semifinalists will be narrowed down to three finalists as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, will be announced on Nov. 20. A second vote by the committee will take place beginning Dec. 2 to determine the recipient. The National Selection Committee consists of past recipients, former NFL All-Pro and college All-America running backs, media members and selected special representatives.

The recipient of the 2019 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 12 on ESPN.

The award, which will name its 30th recipient in 2019, is named for SMU's three-time All-America running back Doak Walker and the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.

Scott and the Hoosiers open the 2019 season with a noon ET kickoff against Ball State at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31. CBS Sports Network will televise the contest.