There is plenty of uncertainty about the upcoming college football season, but assuming there will be a season this year there will be plenty of players to watch take the field. At Arizona, one of the standout players on offense is running back Gary Brightwell who was named to the Doak Walker Award watch list as announced by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum Wednesday morning.
The rising senior from Chester, Pennsylvania has had to work himself into a position as a starter but he will finally get his opportunity to shine in the upcoming season.
Brightwell has had to wait his turn behind JJ Taylor, but even though he was splitting time last year the UA running back was able to rush for 390 yards and score five touchdowns on 66 carries in 11 games of action.
In his career Brightwell has rushed for 915 yards to go with eight touchdowns with an average of 5.8 yards per carry.
Brightwell will be part of another competitive and loaded backfield group that will feature veteran back Nathan Tilford along with returners Bam Smith and Michael Wiley in addition to newcomers Frank Brown and Jalen John.
As things stand now the PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November before the list is narrowed down to three finalists later that month with the winner being named after that as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards.
The Doak Walker Award is given to the top college football running back each season. Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor has won the award the last two years. The last Pac-12 player to win the award was Stanford's Bryce Love after the 2017 season.
Brightwell is one of 10 running backs from the Pac-12 to make the list with Stanford and Arizona State being the only two programs not to have a player represented.
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