Clemson football running back Will Shipley has been named to the Doak Walker Award watchlist. The watchlist includes players who are considered preseason candidates to win the award for the 2022 college football season.
Shipley was also recently named to the Maxwell Award Watchlist.
The Doak Walker Award is given annually to the best running back in college football. It’s been awarded since 1990 when Greg Lewis of Washington was the inaugural winner. Since then, college football stars like Eddie George (Ohio State), LaDanian Tomlinson (TCU) and Derrick Henry (Alabama) have brought home the award. Kenneth Walker III from Michigan State was last season’s recipient.
Shipley played in 10 games as a true freshman. He rushed for 739 yards on 149 attempts for an average of 5.0 yards a carry. He scored eleven touchdowns on the ground. He also had 16 receptions for 116 yards and one touchdown pass to Will Allen in 2021. He and Kobe Pace asserted themselves in a crowded running back room last season and helped push the Tigers to their 11th ten-win season in a row.
Shipley joins 73 other candidates who have been named as watchlist candidates. Other notable candidates include Tank Bigsby (Auburn), TreVeyon Henderson (Ohio State), Mohamed Ibrahim (Minnesota) and Bijan Robinson (Texas).
Other ACC notables joining Shipley are Sean Tucker (Syracuse), Pat Garwo (Boston College), Justice Ellison (Wake Forest), British Brooks (North Carolina), Treshaun Ward (Florida State), Hassan Hall (Georgia Tech) and Dontae Smith (Georgia Tech).
A notable omission from the watchlist is Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who transferred to the Tide from Georgia Tech, while the Yellow Jackets feature two candidates on the watchlist.
Shipley is just a true sophomore, so if he wins the Walker this season, he will have an opportunity to join Ricky Williams (Texas), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Shonn Greene (Iowa) and Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin) as two-time winners. He would also be just the 2nd ACC player to win the award, joining Andre Williams (Boston College) who won it in 2013.
Clemson football running back Will Shipley is a candidate for the prestigious Doak Walker Award
The award is named after Doak Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy for SMU in 1948. He was the first junior to win the Heisman. It claims to be the only major award that requires all winners to be in good academic standing and on course to graduate within one year of other students in their classification.
While Shipley is a very talented player who can be impactful in the passing game and on special teams in addition to the run game, I must admit that he probably faces an uphill battle to win the Doak Walker. Clemson also has Pace, who should probably be on the watchlist in his own right. If both players are healthy, Clemson will be splitting reps between Shipley & Pace through most of the seaosn. Other candidates who I would consider to be favorites, like Henderson, Robinson and Tucker, aren’t going to be sharing playing time with anyone else of significance the way Shipley will be with Pace. Nonetheless, I expect both Clemson running backs to have great seasons.