Massaquoi Adds Another Preseason Honor

2011 Walter Camp Foundation Player of the Year Watch List

Troy University junior defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi added another preseason honor to his resume on Monday when he was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation selected 40 "players to watch" for its 2011 Player of the Year award, the nation's fourth-oldest individual college football accolade.

Massaquoi, who was also named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the Sun Belt Conference, was the only player from the league named to the Walter Camp list and was one of only 10 defensively players named to the list.

Only two other defensive ends – North Carolina senior Quinton Coples and Pittsburgh junior Brandon Lindsey – were included on the list.

In addition to the Walter Camp Award and the Sun Belt Conference recognition, Massaquoi was also named to watch lists for the Bronko Nagurski Award, the Rotary Lombardi Award, the Bednarik Award and, along with junior linebacker Kanorris Davis, to the watch list for the inaugural Pony Express award.

Massaquoi was among the national leaders in 2010 with 20.5 tackles for loss, including 13.5 sacks. His hits behind the line resulted in a total of 111 lost yards for Troy's opponents and he also recovered three fumbles in his first season for the Trojans.

Two players from the Pac-12 who were finalists for the 2010 Player of the Year award – Oregon junior running back LaMichael James and Stanford senior quarterback Andrew Luck – lead this year's Walter Camp watch list. James, who rushed for 1,731 yards and 21 touchdowns for the Ducks, was a Walter Camp First Team All American last season, while Luck was named to the Second Team after passing for 3,338 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2010.

In addition to James and Luck, nine players who have been previously selected a Walter Camp All-American are included on the 2011 Watch List, including a pair of Big 12 wide receivers Justin Blackmon (Oklahoma State) and Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma).

"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 2011 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 120 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 8. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation's annual national awards banquet on January 14, 2012 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

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