PITT’S CONNER NAMED PRESEASON DOAK WALKER AWARD CANDIDATE
The junior tailback has earned plenty of preseason praise.
PITTSBURGH—Pitt junior tailback James Conner received yet another preseason accolade today with his inclusion on the watch list for the prestigious Doak Walker Award, annually presented to the nation’s top running back by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum.
This is the third award to name Conner (Erie, Pa./McDowell) to its watch list. He additionally is a preseason candidate for the Maxwell Award, which honors the college player of the year, and the Wuerffel Trophy, given to the player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Conner additionally has been named a preseason All-American by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele.
The impressive run of accolades continues a trend from last season when Conner was selected the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year after rushing for 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns. He broke three Pitt season records—rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns (26) and scoring (156 points)—set by the legendary Tony Dorsett during his 1976 Heisman Trophy campaign.
Conner was named to seven postseason All-America squads as a sophomore, including first-team honors from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). He was the first Pitt running back to garner first-team All-America honors in 27 years, dating back to Craig “Ironhead” Heyward in 1987.
| Year | Winner | School |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Greg Lewis | Washington |
| 1991 | Trevor Cobb | Rice |
| 1992 | Garrison Hearst | Georgia |
| 1993 | Byron “Bam” Morris | Texas Tech |
| 1994 | Rashaan Salaam | Colorado |
| 1995 | Eddie George | Ohio State |
| 1996 | Byron Hanspard | Texas Tech |
| 1997 | Ricky Williams | Texas |
| 1998 | Ricky Williams | Texas |
| 1999 | Ron Dayne | Wisconsin |
| 2000 | LaDainian Tomlinson | TCU |
| 2001 | Luke Staley | BYU |
| 2002 | Larry Johnson | Penn State |
| 2003 | Chris Perry | Michigan |
| 2004 | Cedric Benson | Texas |
| 2005 | Reggie Bush | USC |
| 2006 | Darren McFadden | Arkansas |
| 2007 | Darren McFadden | Arkansas |
| 2008 | Shonn Greene | Iowa |
| 2009 | Toby Gerhart | Stanford |
| 2010 | LaMichael James | Oregon |
| 2011 | Trent Richardson | Alabama |
| 2012 | Montee Ball | Wisconsin |
| 2013 | Andre Williams | Boston College |
| 2014 | Melvin Gordon | Wisconsin |
Next, look at the trends. From Nov. 1 through bowl season last year, Pitt ranked 12th among Power 5 schools in points per game (36.4), third in points per drive (3.31) and had the lowest offensive turnover rate in the nation. Essentially, Pitt’s offense was in the same ballpark as Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Oregon and Baylor in the final month of the season.
ESPN reports on Pitt
link to espn.go.com
Might explain why we are 6-6 in football perpetually. Basketball entry in report seems to indicate we cannot let our program slide. It’s successful. It needs to stay that way.
link to grahamharleytripp.files.wordpress.com
Tony77 – that link is to a subscription site.
Big Joke hype.
Total athletic profit
10. Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest: $0
That’s even with a bball program that is sold out, ticket sales wise. And has been for over a decade.
Lame, lame lame. And those clowns are still being paid.
And $66 million revenue to boot! An embarrassing business model based on results.
Time to pay consultants $22 million to get things right.
Or join the Ivy league
Return to the BE???? You don’t get it.
Seems to be run like the Gov’t.
And the more inefficient it will be run.
Which means, the more money they get (ACC money), the more money they will waste.
Are you advocating we drop football …wbb ? ha
And we just got the Script back 🙁
Wow, really. What about the Penna. Turnpike ?
Gov’t generally is the most inefficient wasteful entity ever created.
We’ve had our share of great moments, great games and great players since 1996.
Has it been up to the standards of when I went to Pitt ? Certainly not.
But that appears to be the anomaly, not the normal for our beloved Blue & Mustard Gold.
Hopefully after 3 decades we’re about to enter another anomaly stage !
Our FB and BB HC’s along with our Pitt marketing efforts need to get it in gear.
One lost recruit does not make or break a class, but by my expectations, Pitt is NOT getting it done (big picture-wise).
I’ll hang my hat on “winning now” and the recruits and fans will come. We as Pitt fans need to work extra hard at the patience thing right now. I’m turning my nose to the Kool-aid this morning.
We need a Pat signal…
H2P