Florida State running back Trey Benson has landed on a third preseason watch list as he was announced as part of the Doak Walker Award Watch List released Wednesday.
The Doak Walker Award has been presented annually to the nation’s top college running back since 1990. This year’s 10 semifinalists will be announced in November and that list reduced to three finalists later in November before the winner is announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 7.
Benson, who also has been named to the Maxwell Award Watch List and Paul Hornung Award Watch List as well as voted to the Preseason All-ACC Team, rushed for 990 yards and nine touchdowns while adding 144 yards on 13 receptions and 192 yards with one touchdown on five kickoff returns in his first season with the Seminoles. The second-team All-ACC performer earned ACC Running Back of the Week four different times and became the first player in conference history to win the award outright in three consecutive weeks. He re-set his career-high rushing total in each of those three weeks, becoming the first FSU rusher since Dalvin Cook in 2016 with three straight 100-yard games. His final game in that stretch was a 163-yard performance at Syracuse that was the most rushing yards by an ACC player in a road game in 2022 and the highest for an FSU rusher in an ACC road game since Cook at Syracuse in 2016. Benson finished the year with five 100-yard rushing games, the most in a season by an FSU runner since Cam Akers in 2019.
Benson’s average of 6.46 yards per rush led the ACC and ranked 13th nationally, and he was second in the ACC and ninth in the country with 14 runs of at least 20 yards. The Greenville, Mississippi, native broke PFF College’s single-season record by forcing 0.51 missed tackles per rush to better the previous record of 0.48. Benson’s nine rushing touchdowns ranked sixth in the conference, and his 10 total touchdowns were 10th. In FSU’s 44-14 win over Boston College, Benson totaled a career-high 177 all-purpose yards and became the first player in program history to score two offensive touchdowns and a kickoff return touchdown in the same game. His kickoff return touchdown was the first opening kickoff return for a touchdown in Doak Campbell Stadium history.
Including Benson’s three watch list appearances, Florida State has 13 total watch list spots this season. Quarterback Jordan Travis is on watch lists for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards, and defensive lineman Jared Verse is on the Bronko Nagurski Watch List, along with defensive back Fentrell Cypress II, and also on the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List. Offensive lineman Jeremiah Byers is on the Outland Trophy Watch List, punter Alex Mastromanno was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List and both Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson are the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award.
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