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Oklahoma RB Gavin Sawchuk on Doak Walker Award Watch List

The Sooners' explosive sophomore burst onto the scene late last year and already on some radars this preseason.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma running back Gavin Sawchuk
Oklahoma running back Gavin Sawchuk / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports
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Preseason awards keep rolling in for Oklahoma running back Gavin Sawchuk.

The Sooners’ explosive sophomore from Colorado is among 88 players nominated to this year’s preseason watch list for the Doak Walker Award.

The award is named after the former three-time All-America from SMU and is awarded annually to the best running back in college football.

This year’s watch list also included last year’s winner, Ollie Gordon of Oklahoma State. Gordon is trying to join Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon and Texas’ Ricky Williams as the Doak’s only two-time winners. University athletic departments nominate candidates for the award and can continue to do so through October.

Sawchuk, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound third-year sophomore from Littleton, CO, was previously nominated for the Danny Wuerffel Trophy, which goes to the college football player who displays equal excellence in football, citizenship and academics.

Sawchuk led the Sooners in rushing last year when he ran for 744 yards and nine touchdowns on 120 attempts and averaged 6.2 yards per rush. He also caught 15 passes for 102 yards.

Sawchuk’s total numbers weren’t overwhelming last year, but he overcame a preseason injury to finish the season with five consecutive 100-yard games against Oklahoma State, West Virginia, BYU, TCU and Arizona.

READ MORE WATCH LISTS


RB Gavin Sawchuk on Walker
P Luke Elzinga on Guy
LB Danny Stutsman on Camp
RB Gavin Sawchuk on Wuerffel
C Branson Hickman on Outland
LB Danny Stutsman on Nagurski
S Billy Bowman on Nagurski
DS Ben Anderson on Mannelly
S Billy Bowman on Thorpe
QB Jackson Arnold on Maxwell

Sawchuk missed the season opener, got one carry for one yard against SMU, and ran the ball nine times for 25 yards and a score against Tulsa. He then ran seven times for 20 yards against Iowa State and carried just once for minus-one yard against Texas.

He broke out with 63 yards and a score against UCF, including a long touchdown to clinch the victory, but then got just six carries for 19 yards in the loss at Kansas.

From there, Sawchuk averaged 123.4 yards per game and 7.2 yards per carry.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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