The cavalcade of preseason award watch lists is done, with Friday’s unveiling of the Walter Camp Award watch list and Paul Hornung Award watch list the final ones. Five Illini found their names on eight different award lists during the past two weeks. But that’s far from a guarantee they’ll take home the big trophy later this season. Beat writer MATT DANIELS examines the chances for all five as Illinois tries to earn its first national award since Whitney Mercilus won the Hendricks Award as the country’s best defensive end in 2011:
Wes Lunt The quarterback will need to put up prodigious numbers in his final season.
Maxwell Award
Davey O’Brien Award