NOTRE DAME, Ind. — University of Notre Dame senior quarterback Ian Book was selected to the 2019 Walter Camp Player of Year Preseason Watch List.
Book is one of 40 players from across the country up for the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade. The list includes 30 offensive players (16 quarterbacks, seven running backs and seven receivers/tight ends) along with 10 from the defensive side of the ball.
Book, a 2018 O’Brien Award semifinalist, took the starting reigns in the fourth game of the 2018 season. He helped the Irish rip off eight consecutive victories, complete an undefeated regular season and a berth into the College Football Playoff semifinals (Cotton Bowl). Book finished the season completing 68.2 percent (214 of 314) of his passes with 19 touchdowns and 2,628 yards. He also rushed 95 times for 280 yards and four touchdowns. He ranked eighth and 17th, respectively, in FBS completion percentage and pass efficiency. Book became the first FBS signal-caller to win his first five starts of a season with a completion percentage over 70 percent in each game since Russell Wilson at Wisconsin in 2011.
The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November. The 2019 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 130 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN on Thursday, December 12. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s 53rd annual national awards banquet on January 18, 2020 in New Haven, Connecticut.
About Walter Camp
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; @WalterCampFF) – 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.
About the National College Football Awards Association
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 25 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about the association.
The members of the NCFAA are unveiling their preseason watch lists over a two-week period this month. Sixteen of the association’s awards select a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award’s preseason candidates. Following is the complete 2019 preseason watch list calendar:
Here’s a quick rundown of when specific awards will release watch lists:
Mon., July 15: Bednarik Award (Khalid Kareem, Julian Okwara), Maxwell Award (Ian Book)
Tue., July 16: Davey O’Brien Award (Ian Book)
Wed., July 17: Doak Walker Award (Jafar Armstrong, Tony Jones Jr.)
Thur., July 18: Biletnikoff Award
Fri., July 19: Mackey Award (Cole Kmet), Rimington Trophy (Jarrett Patterson)
Mon., July 22: Paycom Jim Thorpe Award (Alohi Gilman), Butkus Award
Tue., July 23: Outland Trophy presented by NFID (Liam Eichenberg, Tommy Kraemer), Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Alohi Gilman, Khalid Kareem, Julian Okwara)
Wed., July 24: Lou Groza Award, Ray Guy Award
Thur., July 25: Paul Hornung Award, Wuerffel Trophy (Jalen Elliott)
Fri., July 26: Walter Camp Award (Ian Book)
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