A day after Oregon quarterback Bo Nix was named to the Davey O’Brien Award watch list for the nation’s best quarterback, Oregon tailback Byron Cardwell has been named to a watch list of his own.
The Duck tailback is one of 74 running backs to be on the Doak Walker Award preseason watch list for the nation’s best running back for 2022.
Cardwell had an outstanding freshman season for Oregon last year as he led all Pac-12 with almost seven yards per carry. Overall, the 6-foot, 210-pounder from San Diego accumulated 417 yards on just 61 carries and three touchdowns.
Those carries are expected to significantly increase in 2022 as he will get a lot more playing time with Travis Dye transferring to USC. Cardwell will be the power back to Sean Dollars’ speed back in the Oregon offense in 2022.
Also on the Doak Walker list from the Pac-12 are Deshaun Fenwick (Oregon State), Damien Moore (Cal), E.J. Smith (Stanford), Zach Charbonnet (UCLA), Tavion Thomas (Utah), Alex Fontenot (Colorado), Xazavian Valladay (Arizona State) and Dye (USC).
Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker III was the 2021 winner.