Boston College Football RB Named to 2026 Doak Walker Award Preseason Watch List
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Boston College football running back Evan Dickens was named to the Doak Walker Award 2026 Preseason Watch List, the organization announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Making his mark among the nation’s best
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) August 18, 2026
Congrats @EvanD1ckens on making the @DoakWalkerAward watch list pic.twitter.com/wNN2i6w7WU
The Doak Walker Award has been presented annually since 1990 to the nation’s premier running back by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum. It is named after the Mustangs’ three-time All-American running back and the winner of the 1948 Heisman Trophy.
Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love, who the Arizona Cardinals drafted fourth overall in the 2026 National Football League (NFL) Draft, received the honor last season after rushing for 1,372 yards on 199 carries (6.9 yards per carry) with 18 touchdowns. He also added 27 receptions for 280 yards and three receiving scores.
Dickens, who transferred to BC from Liberty, is coming off a redshirt-sophomore campaign in which he accumulated the fifth-most rushing yards in the country (1,339), including the fourth-most rushing touchdowns (16), leading to Group of Five Second-Team All-American honors.
The Marietta, Ga., native is expected to lead the Eagles’ backfield — which additionally consists of sophomore Bo MacCormack III, Maryland transfer Nolan Ray, redshirt freshman Mekhi Dodd, and freshman Sedric Addison — this year.
The unit is helmed by first-year running backs coach Mike Hart, who previously served as the running backs coach at Michigan, notably mentoring Los Angeles Rams running back Blake Corum.
“Yeah, Mike Hart’s a great coach, and I really enjoy being around him,” Dickens said. “Obviously, he’s been in the league, which is somewhere I want to go. So I spend a lot of time in the meeting room picking his brain about how it is, kind of picking his brain on what these coaches at the next level are looking for in a running back, and how I can evolve my game to be at that level that he was at, so he’s been a real joy.”
It’s a mentality pic.twitter.com/C6iBlsFKgS
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) August 15, 2026
“But also, I think a big thing too is he really teaches us how to be a man outside the game, right? I think one of the first conversations we had when we first met with him was how you have an identity outside of football. You’re not just a football player, right? Obviously, when you’re in [between] the lines you are, but outside, like you don’t necessarily have to always think about football, right? There’s other aspects to college that you can enjoy that’s not football, and I think that was a big thing for me.”
A total of 60 players were named to the preseason list for the award, including some other notable ACC running backs: Marcellous Hawkins (Virginia Tech), Demon June (North Carolina), Peyton Lewis (Virginia), Mark Fletcher Jr. (Miami), Justice Haynes (Georgia Tech), Kendrick Raphael (SMU), Jayden Scott (NC State), Malachi Hosley (Georgia Tech), Osmane Kromah (Florida State), and Adam Mohammed (California).
The recipient of the award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards ceremony on Dec. 10, 2026.
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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