July 19, 2012
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech senior A-back Orwin Smith has been selected as a preseason candidate for the 2012 Doak Walker Award. Smith was named one of 52 candidates for the award given to the nation’s top collegiate running back.
Smith has averaged 9.7 yards per rushing attempt during his career at Georgia Tech, which is the highest by any player in ACC history who has rushed for at least 1,000 career yards. He is a returning starter at A-back for head coach Paul Johnson after amassing 615 rushing yards on just 61 rushing attempts as a junior. Last season Smith, one of the ACC’s top skill position players and big-play threats, finished with 1,273 all-purpose yards and 12 touchdowns.
Smith is the fourth Georgia Tech player to be named to a 2012 national award preseason watch list. Earlier this week, Jeremiah Attaochu was named to the Lombardi Award watch list. Previously, junior center Jay Finch (Rimington Trophy) and senior guard Omoregie Uzzi (Outland Trophy) were named to national watch lists.
Former Yellow Jacket and current Pittsburgh Steeler Jonathan Dwyer was a Doak Walker Award semifinalist in 2009.
The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name the semifinalists on November 9, and the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee will cast votes to determine the finalists, who will be announced on November 19. The committee will cast a second vote beginning on November 26 to determine the recipient. The National Selection Committee consists of former NFL All-Pro and college All-America running backs, media members and selected special representatives.
The recipient of the 2012 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards Show Thursday, Dec. 6, on ESPN. The Doak Walker Award Presentation Banquet will be held in Dallas, Texas, in February 2013.
The award, in its 23rd year, is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It is the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.
The Doak Walker Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s official website, www.NCFAA.org.
–RamblinWreck.com–
