The Sports Inquirer

The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of fifty “players to watch” for its 2014 Player of the Year award, the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade.

Florida State sophomore quarterback Jameis Winston, the 2013 Walter Camp Player of the Year award recipient, headlines the 2014 watch list.  Winston, a Second Team Walter Camp All-American a year ago, accounted for 4,057 passing yards and 40 touchdowns for the national champion Seminoles.  Ten players on the 2014 watch list, including Winston, have previously earned Walter Camp All-America honors.

In all, 42 schools are represented on the list with Alabama having three players.  There are 33 offensive players (16 quarterbacks, 8 receivers, 7 running backs, and 2 offensive linemen) and 17 from the defensive side of the ball (7 defensive backs, 5 defensive lineman, and 5 linebackers).

SEC and ACC players on the list are:

Vic Beasley, Sr., DL, Clemson (2013 Walter Camp Second Team All-American)

Landon Collins, Jr., DB, Alabama

Amari Cooper, Jr., WR, Alabama

Jamison Crowder, Sr., WR, Duke

Mike Davis, Jr., RB, South Carolina

Cameron Erving, Sr., OT, Florida State (2013 Walter Camp Second Team All-American)

Everett Golson, Sr., QB, Notre Dame

Todd Gurley, Jr., RB, Georgia

Vernon Hargreaves, Soph., DB, Florida

Anthony Harris, Sr., DB, Virginia (2013 Walter Camp Second Team All-American)

Duke Johnson, Jr., RB, Miami Fla. (2012 Walter Camp Second Team All-American)

Nick Marshall, Sr., QB, Auburn

Cody Prewitt, Sr., DB, Ole Miss

Ramik Wilson, Sr., LB, Georgia

Jameis Winston, Soph., QB, Florida State (2013 Walter Camp Player of the Year, 2013 Walter Camp Second Team All-American)

T.J. Yeldon, Jr., RB, Alabama

The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in mid-November.  The 2014 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 125 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 11.  The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on January 17, 2015 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.