One of the most prestigious awards in the country has expanded on its preseason list of players to watch.
Wednesday, the Maxwell Award announced that it had made a total of 11 additions to its previously-released preseason watch list. Players from the Big Ten (Minnesota running back David Cobb, Indiana running back Tevin Coleman and Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett) and Big 12 (TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin, Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine and West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett) comprise more than half of those additions, each with three apiece.
Coleman currently leads the country in rushing, while Cobb is seventh nationally.
The Pac-12 (Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon and Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday) and SEC (Cameron Artis-Payne and Texas A&M’s Kenny Hill) are next up league-wise with two apiece.
Halliday set a Div. I record earlier this month with 734 yards passing in a loss to Cal. OSU’s Barrett, A&M’s Hill and UA’s Solomon are all redshirt freshmen, with the former two third and 13th, respectively, in passing efficiency in their first seasons as a starter while the latter is seventh in passing yards in his starting debut.
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson is the lone player from the ACC and rounds out the additions. While he’s second in the country to Oregon’s Marcus Mariota in passing efficiency, the timing of Watson’s inclusion is head-scratching as the true freshman is expected to miss at least the next five weeks with a hand injury.