Eight Big Ten standouts, including two Iowa Hawkeyes, have been named “players to watch” for the 2016 Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, given annually to the nation’s top college football player.
The 40-player list includes three Big Ten students that earned Walter Camp All-America honors last season – first-team honoree Desmond King of Iowa and second-team selections in Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis and Ohio State’s Raekwon McMillan.
Other conference standouts on the watch list include: Iowa’s C.J. Beathard, Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers, Northwestern’s Justin Jackson and Anthony Walker Jr., and Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett
. Last season, King was the lone defensive back to be named a finalist for the award. Players from current Big Ten institutions have claimed the Walter Camp Award on 13 occasions, including two-time honoree Archie Griffin of Ohio State in 1974 and 1975 and most recently by fellow Buckeye Troy Smith in 2006.
