July 14, 2016
RENO, Nev. - Junior running back James Butler has been selected as a candidate for the Doak Walker Award, the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced today. The award is given annually to the nation's top running back.
Butler is one of six from around the Mountain West to be named to the watch list, joining Hawaii's Paul Harris, Wyoming's Brian Hill, Utah State's Devante Mays, Air Force's Jacobi Owens and San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey.
A 5-foot-9, 210 pound running back out of Bloomingdale, Ill., Butler enters his junior season with excitement after rushing for 1,977 yards and 15 touchdowns as an underclassmen. Butler earned All-Mountain West honors as a sophomore, rushing for 1,153 yards and eight touchdowns while becoming the first sophomore to eclipse 1,000-yards rushing in a single season at Nevada since Vai Taua in 2008. As a true freshman, Butler rushed 140 times for 635 yards and five scores in 2014 while ranking 16th in the nation in rushing yards by freshman.
This is the second national watch list Butler has been named to after he was named to the Maxwell Award watch list earlier this month. In addition he has also earned preseason all-conference honors from Lindy's and Athlon Sport's preseason publications.
The award, which will name its 27th recipient in 2016, is named for SMU's three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. It is the only major collegiate award that requires all candidates to be in good academic standing and on schedule to graduate within one year of other students of the same classification.
