Seventeen ACC Running Backs Earn 2025 Doak Walker Award Consideration

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Seventeen Atlantic Coast Conference operating backs have been named preseason candidates for the 2025 Doak Walker Award, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum introduced Tuesday. The award is offered yearly to the nation’s most excellent school operating again.
 
The ACC’s 17 choices are the second-most of any convention.
 
The preseason checklist options 4 of the highest 10 returning rushers within the league from final season: Louisville’s Isaac Brown (1,173 yards), Wake Forest’s Demond Claiborne (1,049), Pitt’s Desmond Reid (962) and Georgia Tech’s Jamal Haynes (944). Several further ACC operating backs anticipated to tackle extra outstanding roles of their respective offenses this fall had been additionally acknowledged.
 
ACC Players Named to the 2025 Doak Walker Award Preseason Watch List
Name, School, Class
Alex Broome, Boston College, Sophomore
Jordan McDonald, Boston College, Senior
Jaquez Moore, Duke, Senior
Gavin Sawchuk, Florida State, Junior
Jamal Haynes, Georgia Tech, Senior
Isaac Brown, Louisville, Sophomore
Duke Watson, Louisville, Sophomore
Davion Gause, North Carolina, Sophomore
Hollywood Smothers, NC State, Sophomore
Desmond Reid, Pitt, Senior
Derrick McFall, SMU, Freshman
Sedrick Irvin, Stanford, Junior
Will Nixon, Syracuse, Senior
Yasin Willis, Syracuse, Sophomore
Xavier Brown, Virginia, Junior
Terion Stewart, Virginia Tech, Graduate Student
Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest, Senior
 
The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will title 10 semifinalists after which three finalists, as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee, in November. The committee will forged a second vote in December to find out the recipient. The National Selection Committee contains previous recipients, former NFL All-Pro and school All-America operating backs, media members, and chosen particular representatives. The recipient of the 2025 Doak Walker Award shall be introduced stay on The Home Depot College Football Awards on December 12, 2024.
 
The award is known as for SMU’s three-time All-America operating again Doak Walker. Each Tuesday of this season, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum will announce a Doak Walker National Running Back of the week. University athletic departments nominate candidates for the award and might proceed to take action by October.
 
The Doak Walker Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses school soccer’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored greater than 950 recipients since 1935. Visit NCFAA.org for extra data.