With less than 50 days until the start of the college football season, postseason award watch lists have started to roll out. On Thursday the preseason candidate list for the Doak Walker Award, which honors the country's best running back, was released. The Pac-12 has nine players on the early list.
Stanford's 2015 Doak Walker Award finalist Christian McCaffrey once again headlines the early list of candidates. The rising junior led the nation in all-purpose yardage (276 YPG) and had a FBS-high nine all-purpose plays of at least 50 yards last season. Oregon junior Royce Freeman rushed for 1836 yards and led the conference in scoring with 19 total touchdowns during the 2015 season.