Appalachian State football’s Nate Noel, East Carolina football’s Rahjai Harris and Wake Forest football’s Justice Ellison have been named preseason candidates for the 2023 Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top running back.
All three players are juniors. Bijan Robinson of Texas won last year’s Doak Walker, beating out Michigan’s Blake Corrum (who returns this season) and Illinois’ Chase Brown.
Nate Noel, Appalachian State
Noel appears on the Doak Walker watch list for the second straight season. He’s also on the Maxwell Award watch list, which recognizes to most outstanding player in college football.
Through 33 career games, Noel has rushed for 2,240 yards and 13 touchdowns while averaging 6.1 yards per carry. He led the Sun Belt with 1,126 rushing yards in 2021 before rushing for 604 yards in just nine games during an injury-impacted 2022 season in which he averaged 6.9 yards per carry.
Noel opened the ’22 season with 116 yards and two touchdowns on 14 attempts against North Carolina and closed the year with 171 yards and three touchdowns on just 12 attempts against Georgia Southern — that performance ranked as the second-most rushing yards by an App State player with fewer than 15 carries, after only Marcus Cox’s 192 yards on 14 carries against South Alabama in 2015.
Appalachian State opens the new season Sept. 2 at home against Gardner-Webb.
Rahjai Harris, East Carolina
Harris, who appeared in five games with one start a year ago, rushed for 238 yards on 67 carries (3.6 yards per carry) with five scores before suffering a season-ending injury against South Florida.
During his three-year career, the Duncan, SC native has rushed for 1,445 yards on 360 carries, scoring 13 touchdowns while catching 39 passes for 264 yards and three additional scores.
ECU opens the 2023 campaign at Michigan on Sept. 2.
Justice Ellison, Wake Forest
Justice also has appeared on the Doak Walker list heading into last season. The redshirt junior goes into his second season as the full-time starter.
Ellison was voted third-team all-ACC in 2022 after starting 10 games and helping lead the team to its seventh consecutive bowl game and back-to-back bowl wins.
He totaled a career-high and team-high 707 rushing yards while also finding the end zone six times on the ground, posting 4.2 yards per carry and catching six passes for 62 yards.
Ellison tallied a season-high and career-high 114 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in a victory over No. 22 Florida State while also adding a catch for 10 yards. Additionally, he ran for 80 yards on 13 carries, including a season-high 45 yard rush against VMI.
Wake Forest starts the 2023 season on Thursday, Aug. 31 against Elon.
More On The Doak Walker Award
The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November, and three finalists, as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, will be announced in November.
The committee will cast a second vote in December to determine the recipient. The National Selection Committee consists of past recipients, former NFL All-Pro and college All-America running backs, media members and selected special representatives.
The recipient of the 2023 Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards.
The award is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It is the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.
(Sources: AppStateSports.com, GoDeacs.com, ECUPirates.com and the PwC SMU Athletic Forum).
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