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Michigan State Football: LJ Scott named to 2017 Doak Walker watch list

By Connor Muldowney

PISCATAWAY, NJ - OCTOBER 10: LJ Scott #3 of the Michigan State Spartans carries the ball in the fourth quarter against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on October 10, 2015 at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 31-24. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - OCTOBER 10: LJ Scott #3 of the Michigan State Spartans carries the ball in the fourth quarter against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on October 10, 2015 at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 31-24. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State football has a potential contender for the 2017 Doak Walker Award in LJ Scott, who was named to the watch list Thursday.

The highest honor for a college football running back, outside of a potential Heisman Trophy, is the Doak Walker Award. On Thursday, Michigan State football’s LJ Scott was named to the preseason watch list for the award.

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Dozens of potential candidates make the preseason award watch list, but the honor is one that Scott could make a realistic run at.

No Michigan State running back has ever won the Doak Walker Award, which is hard to believe seeing as guys like Le’Veon Bell and Javon Ringer have come through the program. Both were late-season candidates for the award, but neither could take home the hardware.

Wisconsin’s Montee Ball won the year that Bell was a junior and racked up over 1,700 yards and Iowa’s Shonn Greene took home the award during Ringer’s final year. Wild that Big Ten running backs beat out both Bell and Ringer when they seemed to be the best of the group. Heck, Jeremy Langford could have made a decent run at the award with more carries in 2015.

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Scott finished the 2016 season with 994 yards and previously had 699 as a freshman. Entering his junior season with the Spartans, he’s recorded the most rushing yards in his first two years of any former running back at MSU. Could Gerald Holmes and Madre London steal carries, though?

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