With Stanford football players picking up even more accolades in the preseason, expectations are rising for the Cardinal squad despite vast losses on defense and position changes.
Most recently, senior receiver Ty Montgomery, the team’s leading pass catcher from last season, has received recognition as a candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s best wide receiver. After the 2013 season, he was named a consensus All-American selection and won the Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers Award for national return specialist of the year. The Biletnikoff Award honor follows his selection to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, honoring the player of the year in college football, as well as that of the Hornung Award, awarded to the country’s most versatile player.
Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan was also selected for the Maxwell Award Watch List, in addition to being recognized for the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the nation’s best quarterback. Since taking over the quarterback role from Josh Nunes during the 2012 season, he is 16-3 as a starter and 10-1 against nationally ranked teams, helping the Cardinal either on the ground or in the air.
In addition, three Stanford athletes have been named to the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. Fifth-year senior defensive end Henry Anderson, junior offensive tackle Andrus Peat and fifth-year senior linebacker A.J. Tarpley were the three players recognized this week. The award honors the best offensive or defensive lineman in college football.
Anderson has been named to four preseason watch lists thus far. Anderson, along with junior cornerback Alex Carter, senior safety Jordan Richards and Tarpley, was named to the Bronko Nagurski Award watch list. The award recognizes the best defensive player in the nation. Those same four players were also named to the Bednarik Award watch list earlier this month. Anderson, along with Peat, was also nominated for the Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s best interior lineman.
Montgomery and Peat have also been named candidates for the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s Player of the Year award, which is the fourth-oldest individual accolade for college football. This is the fourth preseason accolade for Montgomery and third for Peat.
Tarpley, in addition to the Lombardi Award watch list selection, has been placed on the Butkus Award watch list for the best collegiate linebacker, with senior outside linebacker James Vaughters also selected for the list. The Butkus nomination is the fourth preseason accolade for Tarpley, who has started 32 games in his career for Stanford. For Vaughters, it is his first career watch list nomination, earned after demonstrating his physicality in all 14 games during the 2013-14 season, including a career-high seven-tackle performance against Army.
Finally, senior running back Kelsey Young is being considered for the Doak Walker Award, awarded to the best running back in the nation. Young had to play in the shadow of the likes of Stepfan Taylor and Tyler Gaffney for the majority of his time on the Farm, however, he was able to carve out a name for himself in spurts. The multi-talented receiver, Young had a 32-yard rush against Arizona State, a 36-yard reception versus Washington State and a 27-yard touchdown run against Cal last season and is anticipated to be a key receiver for the Card in the upcoming season.
Additional watch list recognitions not mentioned but previously reported on include sophomore center Graham Shuler for the Rimington Award, fifth-year senior Jordan Williamson for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, Richards for the Jim Thorpe Award
Head coach David Shaw once again has an arsenal of talented players to compete for a third consecutive Pac-12 championship. However, the Pac-12 is loaded this year with great teams, as five Pac-12 squads are currently ranked in preseason top-25 polls; Arizona State (16th), USC (13th), UCLA (5th) and Oregon (2nd) all earned top-25 nods in the ESPN 2014 Preseason Football Power Index. Sitting at No. 8, Stanford has the ability to creep into the top four and potentially, once again, ruin Oregon’s chances at a shot for the national title.
The 2014 season for Stanford football begins at home against UC-Davis on August 30.
Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.
*This post has been updated*