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Karan Higdon is one of 62 running backs on the list for the 2018 Doak Walker Award for the nation’s top college running back, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced in Dallas this morning.
Just released: The 2018 #DoakWalkerAward candidate list: https://t.co/MyyMNb75Jw
— Doak Walker Award (@DoakWalkerAward) July 18, 2018
Candidates are nominated by their schools and can be nominated throughout the fall.
He looks to beat out defending award-winner, Stanford’s Bryce Love, as well as several Big Ten backs, to bring the honor back to Ann Arbor for the first time since Chris Perry in 2003.
Other conference backs on the watch list include Michigan State’s L.J. Scott, Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, Northwestern’s Jeremy Larkin and Penn State’s Miles Sanders.
Additional running backs with cameos on Michigan’s schedule include Western Michigan Broncos LeVante Bellamy and Jamauri Bogan, as well as SMU’s Xavier Jones.
Higdon nearly topped 1,000 yards in 2017, gaining 994 at 6.1 yards a pop. He started slowly last season, never gaining more than 65 yards in a game until the overtime win at Indiana.
He ran for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns in that 27-20 triumph, and crossed the century mark twice more after that. He finished with 11 rushing touchdowns, nine of them from the Indiana game onward.
The award committee takes recommendations from university athletic departments until October. They make the semifinalist cut in early November, the finalist cut by Nov. 20 and announce the winner at the Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 6.