Boyd, Whaley named to watch list for top running back award

FAYETTEVILLE — Rakeem Boyd and Devwah Whaley were placed on the Doak Walker Award watch list on Wednesday by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum.

The award is presented annually to the nation’s top college running back and is named after three-time All-America RB Doak Walker.

It is the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.

Arkansas is the only school in the SEC with multiple student-athletes on the initial Doak Walk Award Watch List. The running back duo joins senior defensive lineman McTelvin Agim as preseason selections, as he was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list on July 15.

Boyd, a junior from Houston, Texas, recorded a team-best 734 yards on 123 attempts last season in his first year with the Razorbacks.

He averaged 6 yards per carry with 61.2 per game, scoring twice, while leading the team in all-purpose yards with 899. Boyd put together three games of 100+ yards rushing in three contests, all against conference foes, with a season-best 113 yards against Vanderbilt on Oct. 27.

Whaley, from Beaumont, Texas, makes his second appearance on the watch list after rushing for 368 yards and two touchdowns as a junior in 2018.

He notched the top rushing game of the season last year by a Razorback with 165 yards and a TD on 26 carries at Colorado State on Sept. 8.

Whaley enters his senior campaign as Arkansas’ active career leading rusher with 1,529 yards and ranks fourth on the receptions list with 22 receptions for 279 yards.

The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November, and three finalists on Nov. 20.

The committee will cast a second vote beginning Dec. 2 to determine the recipient, which will be announced live on the Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 12, in Atlanta, Georgia, on ESPN.