Arkansas running back earns spot on Doak Walker Award watch list
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For the second straight season, Arkansas junior running back Raheim Sanders has been named to the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced Wednesday.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For the second straight season, Arkansas junior running back Raheim Sanders has been named to the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced Wednesday.
The Doak Walker Award is presented annually to the nation’s top college running back. Named for Southern Methodist University’s threetime All-America running back Doak Walker, the award also requires candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.
Sanders is coming off one of the greatest seasons by an Arkansas running back in recent memory after rushing for 10 touchdowns and 1,443 yards — fourth-most in a single season in school history — in 2022. The Rockledge, Fla., native, who became the first Arkansas running back to earn preseason first-team All-Southeastern Conference recognition since 2012, became just the second Razorback to ever run for 1,400-plus yards and return to school the following year, joining legendary Darren McFadden, who ran for a then school record 1,647 yards in 2006 before breaking his own record in 2007 with 1,830 yards. Sanders finished second in the SEC in rushing yards en route to being named First-Team All-SEC by The Associated Press and USA Today.
The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November, and three finalists, as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, will be announced in November. The committee will cast a second vote in December to determine the recipient. The National Selection Committee consists of past recipients, former National Football League All-Pro and college All-America running backs, media members and selected special representatives.
The recipient of the 2023 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards.
The Razorbacks kick off the season at 3 p.m. Sept. 2, against FCS foe Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark.
