by Jeff Reynolds, BYU Athletic Communications
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (August 18, 2008) – The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced BYU junior quarterback Max Hall is one of 35 “players to watch” for its prestigious Player of the Year award, the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade.
“We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp and recognize the best college football players in the nation,” Foundation president John Barbarotta said. “This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football.”
In his first year as a starter in 2007, Hall put in the fourth best performance by a first-year quarterback at BYU to date and was the nation's top sophomore quarterback in terms of passing yards. On the season, the Mesa, Ariz., native completed 298-of-496 passes for 3,848 yards and 26 touchdowns.
With his performance, Hall led the 2007 Cougars to their second-straight Mountain West Conference title with an 11-2 record and a perfect 8-0 record against league opponents. Hall earned first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors as the league's top quarterback and help guide the Cougars to a Las Vegas Bowl victory over UCLA.
Five players on the 2008 watch list – Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis, Florida QB Tim Tebow, Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree, Wisconsin TE Travis Beckum and South Florida DE George Selvie – were named to last year’s Walter Camp All-America First Team. Last year’s recipient was Arkansas running back and current Oakland Raider Darren McFadden.
The watch list will be narrowed to 15 semi-finalists in early November. The 2008 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 119 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced on the ESPN/Home Depot College Football Awards Show in December. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on January 10, 2009 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation—a New Haven-based all-volunteer group—was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
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