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Why Does The Doak Walker Award Keep Snubbing San Diego State
This is the second time that the Doak Walker dissed an Aztec running back
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Come on, Doak Walker.
The Doak Walker Award watchlist came out for the 2018 season with four Mountain West players but one of those players was not San Diego State running back Juwan Washington.
The Doak Walker already has a history of snubbing San Diego State running backs and it was last year when Rashaad Penny was not named a finalist.
This watchlist goes to the nation’s best running back and just looking at numbers Washington probably does not belong on the list. However, if you look at his numbers in context, history of San Diego State backs and the offensive line back he very well should be on the list.
As a third-string running back in 2016 he had 55 carries for a whopping 441 yards — 8.02 per carry — and six touchdowns. Last year, he was Penny’s back up and ran for 759 yards and averaged 5.98 yards per touch and seven touchdowns.
Those yards per carry numbers were top-five nationally in each of the past two years. Then consider the pedigree of San Diego State backs. They have had multiple running backs go on to the NFL over the past decade so it is not like it has been a fluke that the Aztecs are known as a running back school.
They are the only school in the history of the FBS to have back-to-back 2,000-yard rushers and have the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher in Donnell Pumphrey (pre-bowl stats not included).
Then consider actually on the field talent and Washington will be running behind an offensive line that returns its entire group from last year. Adding all that up should have made Washington a sure-fire selection for the Doak Walker Award preseason list.
This can be rectified since these watch lists can add players throughout the year, and if Washington has the year most think he will then he should be on the list for the nation’s best running back at some point this year.
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