BYU Football: Squally Canada named a Doak Walker Award candidate
By Shaun Gordon
The watch lists for major college football awards are rolling out. Today, BYU Football’s Squally Canada was named as a Doak Walker Award candidate.
It’s a sign that football season is finally drawing near.
Between this week and next week, the National College Football Awards Association will roll out the candidates for each of the major national awards.
Today, the SMU Athletic Forum announced the Doak Walker Award candidates. The Doak Walker Award is given to the top running back in college football.
And BYU Football’s Squally Canada made the list.
The senior running back is one of 62 candidates, but he’ll have an uphill climb to win the award. Other players on list include Heisman Trophy contenders Bryce Love (Stanford), Myles Gaskin (Washington), and Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin).
Canada will look to have a monster season, and he should enter 2018 as the primary back. But with a crowd in the backfield, he could lose snaps if he doesn’t start the season off well.
Last season, Canada carried the ball 120 times for 710 yards, averaging nearly 6 yards per carry. He finished with 6 touchdowns and no fumbles.
In fact, his only fumble as a Cougar came in his very first rushing attempt against Utah in the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl.
If Canada wants an idea of what he’ll have to do to win the Doak Walker Award, he can look at the only BYU player to win the award previously – Luke Staley.
As a senior in 2001, Staley rushed for 1,596 yards and 24 touchdowns. He averaged an astounding 8.1 yards per carry.
With Love, Gaskin, and Taylor in the mix for the award, Canada may have to put up even better stats than Staley did if he want’s to earn top running back honors.