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The college football season is still a ways off, but this week, the sport will be back in the news quite a bit as award watch lists will be released. As is the case with these things, a ton of players make the list, essentially so the award organizations don't miss anyone. That still happens when freshmen go unnoticed before putting up big years and fighting their way into consideration, but overall, there's generally a large number of players on these sorts of things.
The Maxwell Club, one of the more prestigious awards out there, released its list on Monday and two Pitt players, James Conner and Tyler Boyd, both made the cut. The Panthers having two players on watch lists isn't unheard of, but it doesn't happen all the time.
Boyd (85 catches, 1,174 receiving yards, and eight total touchdowns in 2013) making the list is a no-brainer. He was one of the top receivers in the ACC last year as a true freshman and broke several Pitt freshman records along the way. James Conner (799 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in 2013) is more of a reach. With some depth at running back (including the three top guys from last year all back as well as some incoming freshmen that could earn carries), I'm not totally convinced that he has a huge season, but his ability to play defense as well probably helped get him some consideration.
Here's the entire watch list, as taken from CBS Sports:
RB Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska
WR Nelson Agholor, USC
RB Jay Ajayi Boise, State
RB Javorius Allen, USC
WR Dres Anderson, Utah
QB Anthony Boone, Duke
WR Tyler Boyd, Pittsburgh
QB Jacoby Brissett, N.C. State
RB Malcolm Brown, Texas
QB Shane Carden, East Carolina
QB Rakeem Cato, Marshall
WR Sammie Coates Auburn
QB Jacob Coker, Alabama
WR Stacy Coley, Miami
RB Alex Collins, Arkansas
RB James Conner, Pittsburgh
QB Connor Cook, Michigan State
WR Amari Cooper, Alabama
WR Jamison Crowder, Duke
RB Mike Davis, South Carolina
WR DeVante Davis, UNLV
WR Stefon Diggs, Maryland
QB Jeff Driskel, Florida
QB Cody Fajardo, Nevada
RB D.J. Foster, Arizona State
WR Devin Funchess, Michigan
QB Devin Gardner, Michigan
QB Jared Goff, California
QB Everett Golson, Notre Dame
WR Antwan Goodley, Baylor
RB Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
RB Johnathan Gray, Texas
WR Deontay Greenberry, Houston
WR Rashad Greene, Florida State
RB Todd Gurley, Georgia
QB Christian Hackenberg, Penn State
WR Justin Hardy, East Carolina
QB Taylor Heinicke, Old Dominion
RB Derrick Henry, Alabama
WR Austin Hill, Arizona
QB Taysom Hill, BYU
QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
QB Brett Hundley, UCLA
QB Matt Johnson, Bowling Green
RB Duke Johnson, Miami
QB Chuckie Keeton, Utah State
QB Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
QB Cody Kessler, USC
QB Trevor Knight, Oklahoma
RB Jeremy Langford, Michigan State
RB Shock Linwood, Baylor
WR Tyler Lockett, Kansas State
QB Sean Mannion, Oregon State
RB Raymond Maples, Army
QB Marcus Mariota, Oregon
RB Venric Mark, Northwestern
RB Byron Marshall, Oregon
QB Nick Marshall, Auburn
QB Braxton Miller, Ohio State
WR Ty Montgomery, Stanford
QB John O'Korn, Houston
WR DeVante Parker, Louisville
QB Bryce Petty, Baylor
QB Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
QB Keenan Reynolds, Navy
WR Jaelen Strong, Arizona State
RB Thomas Tyner, Oregon
QB P.J. Walker, Temple
QB Bo Wallace, Ole Miss
QB Jake Waters, Kansas State
QB Davis Webb, Texas Tech
RB Jonathan Williams, Arkansas
RB Karlos Williams, Florida State
RB Jamaal Williams, BYU
QB Jameis Winston Florida State
RB T.J. Yeldon, Alabama
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