Aug. 10, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark (Youngstown, Ohio) and tailback Evan Royster (Fairfax, Va.) are among the 30 initial candidates for the Walter Camp Football Foundation's Player of the Year, the nation's fourth-oldest individual college football accolade.
Royster also has been added to the Watch List for the Doak Walker Award, presented to the nation's top running back. The Big Ten's leading returning rusher was among 10 semifinalists for the 2008 Doak Walker Award.
Penn State is one of only five schools in the nation with multiple candidates on the Walter Camp "Players to Watch" list, joining players from Florida, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas.
Clark and Royster comprise two-thirds of the Big Ten Conference's representatives on the Walter Camp Player of the Year list. Illinois wide receiver Arrelious Benn is the other.
Penn State's John Cappelletti and Larry Johnson are previous winners of the Walter Camp Player of the Year.
"We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp and recognize the best college football players in the nation," Foundation president Alphonse Paolillo, Jr. said. "This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football."
The 2008 first team All-Big Ten signal-caller, Clark was a semifinalist for the 2008 Davey O'Brien Award and runner-up for Big Ten MVP. He was a responsible for a school record 29 touchdowns last season (19 passing, 10 rushing). A 2009 Davey O'Brien Award candidate, Clark was 192-of-321 for 2,592 yards, the third-highest passing yardage season in school history, throwing only six interceptions.
Royster has been selected a 2009 second team pre-season All-American by Athlon Sports, Sporting News and Phil Steele's College Football. His 1,236 yards in 2008 were the 10th-best rushing season in school history, as averaged 6.5 yards per carry and scored 12 touchdowns.
The Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in early November. The 2009 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 live on ESPN's SportsCenter on December 10. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation's annual national awards banquet on January 18, 2010 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 (www.waltercamp.org) - 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.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation 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 website, www.ncfaa.org.
Coach Joe Paterno's squad returns 37 letterwinners and 10 starters for his 44th season as head coach and 60th year on the Penn State coaching staff. Pre-season camp begins today for the No. 8 Nittany Lions, with the season opener on Sept. 5 against Akron at 12:00 p.m. The contest will air on the Big Ten Network, the Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com. The Big Ten Network will televise the Nittany Lions' first three games (Akron, Syracuse and Temple) at 12:00 p.m. from Beaver Stadium and at least one conference game this season.
Penn State has earned one of the nation's Top 10 records since the start of the 2005 season, posting a 40-11 (78.4) mark, good for No. 9 nationally.