Mizzou tailback Russell Hansbrough has been named to the 2015 Doak Walker Award Watch List. The award is given to the nation’s top collegiate running back. This is the second major preseason watch list for Hanbrough, who landed on the Maxwell Award Watch list earlier this month.
Hansbrough has rushed for nearly 2,000 yards in his Mizzou career, and led Mizzou with his first 1,000-yard season in 2014, totaling 1,084 yards, good for sixth in the SEC despite starting just three games. He was also seventh in the SEC in rush yards per game. Hansbrough was SEC Offensive Player of the Week and National Tailback of the Week following a 199-yard outburst at Texas A&M, the 10th-best single-game rush total in program history.
The winner of the Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The College Football Awards show on Thursday, December 10, on ESPN. The Doak Walker Award Presentation Banquet will be held in Dallas in early 2016.
The award, which will name its 26th recipient in 2015, is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It is 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.