Players on national awards watch lists

Daily temperatures are still hitting triple digits in Aggieland, and the Texas A&M football team is still adding to its list of athletes on award watch lists.

This time running backs Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael headline the list of six Aggies placed on award watch with their nominations for the Doak Walker Award. A trio of Aggies also made the watch list for the Lombardi Award while Ryan Tannehill was named to the O'Brien watch list and Coryell Judie was added to the Thorpe watch.

Senior Cyrus Gray and junior Christine Michael made the Doak Walker watch list for the second consecutive season as announced by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum. The Doak Walker Award has been presented to the nation's best running back each season since its creation in 1989 and is the only national award to require good academic standing from its candidates.

After starting the 2010 season as a backup, Gray exploded onto the national scene with seven straight games of 100 rushing yards to end the season. He accumulated 1,133 yards and 12 touchdowns, becoming the first 1,000-yard rusher since Courtney Lewis in 2003. Gray showed his versatility with 34 receptions for 251 yards, and one 14-yard pass completion for a touchdown to become the second Aggie to surpass 5,000 all-purpose yards in a season. Gray was the second leading scorer for the Aggies in 2010 with 78, earning him multiple All-Big 12 accolades.

The other half of the Aggie backfield, Michael, wowed fans early in the season but was reduced to the bench after suffering injuries. He still ran for 631 yards on 126 carries before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Michael was the 2009 Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and has 1475 career rushing entering his junior season.

A list of 10 semifinalists will be announced November 11 and the winner will be announced December 8 during a nationally televised ceremony.

The O'Brien National Selection Committee named senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill to the 2011 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List. Tannehill is among 38 candidates for The O'Brien, awarded annually since 1977 to the most outstanding quarterback that embodies the same teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership as its namesake did in his day.

Tannehill took over at quarterback in the middle of the 2010 season, throwing for a school record 449 yards against Texas Tech in his first career start. He finished the season with 1,638 yards and 13 touchdowns with only six interceptions. Tannehill earned All-Big 12 honorable mention for the second consecutive year, as a receiver in 2009 and as a quarterback in 2010. Tannehill also made first-team academic All-Big 12 in all three of his seasons as an Aggie.

The field will be slimmed to 16 semifinalists on October 24, and the Selection Committee will announce three other finalists on November 21. The winner will be announced during The Home Depot College Football Awards on December 8.

The Lombardi Award Committee named Tony Jerod-Eddie, Luke Joeckel and Garrick Williams to the Lombardi watch list. The Lombardi Award is presented each season to nation's best linebacker or down lineman on either offense or defense. Athletes must earn All-America honors, be named first-team all-conference or be projected to be an All-America selection for the upcoming season to be considered by the selection committee of more than 500 members.

Senior defensive end Tony Jerod-Eddie started every game as a junior in 2010, accumulating 49 tackles, 22 solo stops and 2.5 tackles for a loss. His performance earned him All-Big 12 honorable mention from the conference's coaches and The Associated Press.  Another stat he can boast is having played in every game since arriving in Aggieland.

Sophomore offensive tackle Luke Joeckel made the watch list after exceeding expectations in his freshman season. He started all 13 games at left tackle to help the Aggies to 5744 total offensive yards and 3599 yards through the air, both ranking second all-time in school history. Joeckel was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team, received All-Big 12 honorable mention honors and was honored by the Football Writers Association of America as a Freshman All-America selection.

Senior linebacker Garrick Williams also made the Lombardi watch list after consistent play landed him second on the team with 112 tackles in 2010.  He earned honorable mention All-Big-12 honors as an inside linebacker for an Aggie defense that started the season ranked outside the top 100 defenses and ended the season ranked No. 55.

Voting for the Lombardi Award is conducted by three rounds of votes from past winners, current NCAA Division I head coaches and esteemed sports journalists across the country. The first round will take place in late September to formulate a list of 12 semifinalists to be released at the end of October. The second round will be taken in mid-October to narrow the list to four finalists. The committee will vote for the winner in early December and award will be announced at the Award Presentation.