Zach Charbonnet Represents UCLA on Doak Walker Award Watch List
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The Bruins have boasted one of the best ground attacks in the nation ever since Chip Kelly arrived in Westwood, and now their lead back is in the running for one of the top honors in the country.
UCLA football running back Zach Charbonnet was one of 74 players named to the Doak Walker Award preseason watch list on Wednesday. This marks the second preseason watch list Charbonnet has made thus far, as he was part of the Maxwell Award watch list released Monday alongside quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
For all the success the Bruins have had running the ball in recent years, this is just the third time in the past seven seasons they have had a player on the preseason watch list. UCLA was far from a running back factory in the final years of Jim Mora's tenure, and Joshua Kelley was a largely unknown transfer from UC Davis before he broke out in 2018.
Kelley was a preseason candidate in 2019, and Demetric Felton was one in 2020. Charbonnet did not earn the nod in the summer of 2021, but he has had far loftier expectations thrust upon him in 2022.
The Southern California native played his first two years of college ball at Michigan, where he broke out as a freshman before losing snaps his sophomore year. Charbonnet appeared in 18 games with nine starts for the Wolverines, racking up 850 yards and 12 touchdowns on 5.1 yards per carry.
Charbonnet returned to his hometown team and immediately emerged as one of the top running backs in the country. In 12 appearances, Charbonnet rushed for 1,137 yards and 13 touchdowns on 5.6 yards per carry, getting named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team as a result.
The power back also added pass-catching to his repertoire – in his two seasons at Michigan, Charbonnet hauled in 14 passes for 71 yards, but in his lone season in Westwood, he snagged 24 for 197.
With Brittain Brown headed to the Las Vegas Raiders in April's NFL Draft, Charbonnet is likely to get an even heavier snap count as the unopposed No. 1 back.
Charbonnet owns +10000 odds to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy, according to BetOnline, tied for 26th in the country.
Arizona State's Xazavian Valladay, Cal's Damien Moore, Colorado's Alex Fontenot, Oregon State's Deshaun Fenwick, Stanford's E.J. Smith, USC's Travis Dye, USC's Austin Jones and Utah's Tavion Thomas are the other Pac-12 representatives on the watch list.
No Bruin has ever won the Doak Walker Award.
The winner of the Doak Walker Award will be announced on ESPN in December as part of the annual College Football Awards Show.
Each weekday for the next two weeks, the National College Football Awards Association will announce the watch lists for the rest of its positional awards. The Biletnikoff Award watch list – which honors the top wide receivers in the country – will be released Thursday.
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