Tulane Green Wave Star Named Doak Walker Award Semifinalist Amid Special Year
The Tulane Green Wave are thriving under a balanced offensive attack featuring one of the best running backs in college football.
Despite not being named to the preseason watchlist, Makhi Hughes was named as a semifinalist for the prestigious Doak Walker Award.
The award, named after the former SMU Mustang and Detroit Lions player, honors the best running back in the country. Notable recent winners include Bijan Robinson, Najee Harris, and Derrick Henry. The National Selection Committee will vote to announce the finalists for the award on Nov. 26 and the winner on Dec. 12.
Hughes has quietly been having a career-altering season and is finally receiving due recognition. He was named the honorable AAC offensive player of the week four consecutive times.
Hughes not only leads the conference but ranks fifth nationally in rushing with 1,291 yards in 11 games. His 15 rushing touchdowns are No. 3 in the American conference and No. 10 in the country.
It's how Hughes racked up the yardage through several contests that should impress just as much, if not more than, his numerical output.
In 2023, Hughes had seven of those 14 career games. He rushed for 100+ yards in six consecutive conference matchups. This year, he had a five-game conference streak that ended against Navy and two non-conference games.
One was the loss to Kansas State. The next, against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, Hughes recorded in record temperatures that reached 144 degrees on the turf while battling the flu.
Over the course of three games, starting against North Texas, traveling to Charlotte five days later, and returning to homecoming, Hughes amassed 76 carries for 465 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in a span of 15 days.
He's added an important wrinkle to his game this year with his development as a receiver. Hughes had 11 receptions in 2023 for 67 total yards, and no touchdowns. He's caught 14 passes this year, two for receiving touchdowns, for a total of 128 yards.
Hughes’ rushing total this season also ranks him fifth in a single campaign.
Looking back to Tulane's gritty win over the Rice Owls, the ignition came from the 100 yards Hughes recorded after halftime. Reaching his career high before halftime against the Mean Green was equally impressive.
As Hughes carves his way up Green Wave history, he does so as a monumental player in the team's nine wins.
Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com