July 20, 2012

The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of 50 “players to watch” for its 2012 Player of the Year award, the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade.

The University of South Carolina was represented by two players, junior running back Marcus Lattimore and sophomore defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.

Lattimore, a six-foot, 218-pounder from Duncan, S.C., has also been named to the Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award watch lists, while being a preseason first-team All-SEC selection by both the coaches and the media.

Clowney, a 6-6, 256-pounder from Rock Hill, S.C., has also appeared on the Bednarik, Nagurski and Lombardi Award watch lists, while being a consensus first-team preseason All-SEC candidate.

Eleven players on the 2012 watch list, including Wisconsin senior running back Montee Ball (1,923 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2011), have previously earned Walter Camp All-America honors. In all, 37 schools are represented on the list with Kansas State, Oklahoma and USC each having three players.

The 2011 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient was former Stanford and current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.

“We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp and recognize the best college football players in the nation,” Foundation president John Marks said. “This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football.”

The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in mid-November. The 2012 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 124 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 6. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on January 12, 2013 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.