From an Ohio State press release.
Fields, Young Are Walter Camp Player of the Year Finalists
Fields, Young and Dobbins are Chicago Tribune Silver Football finalists, too
COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the national awards season continues, two Ohio State Buckeyes – quarterback Justin Fields and defensive end Chase Young – are finalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Football Foundation announced today.
Fields and Young are among five finalists, joining Joe Burrow of LSU, Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State and Jonathan Taylor of Wisconsin. The winner, who is voted on by the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 12 during the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter.
A first-year starter, Fields has been remarkably consistent this season, highlighted by his 37-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio. He’s third nationally with 47 touchdowns accounted for (37 passing, 10 rushing) and ranks fourth with a 190.2 passing efficiency rating. Coming off the second 300-yard passing game of his career last week, Fields is completing 68.2 percent of his passes for 2,654 yards. He’s thrown for at least two touchdown passes in all 12 games.
A finalist for the Davey O’Brien and Manning Awards, Fields was yesterday named the Big Ten’s Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year and the Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year.
Young is in the midst of one of the most dominating seasons by a defensive player ever. While helping Ohio State have the nation’s No. 1 overall total defense (232.3 yards/game), Young leads the country in tackles-for-loss (2.0 per game), quarterback sacks (16.5 and 1.65 per game) and sack yards (117). He is second in forced fumbles (six) and TFL yards lost (122). Young’s 16.5 sacks is the most by a Big Ten player in 21 years.
The first Buckeye to record 10 or more sacks in multiple seasons since Mike Vrabel, Young set the school’s single-season sack record and currently ranks second in school history with 30.5. A team captain, he also has contributed 38 total tackles, four quarterback hurries and one pass breakup.
Young is a finalist for four other awards: the Bednarik, Maxwell, Nagerski and Ted Hendricks Awards. Earlier this week, he was named the Big Ten’s Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year and Smith-Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year.
J.K., Justin and Chase: A Terrific Trio of Silver Football Finalists
The Chicago Tribune announced its four finalists for the prestigious Silver Football and three of them are Buckeyes: Fields, Young and running back J.K. Dobbins. The award goes to the conference’s best overall player as voted on by league coaches. It’s had a decided Buckeye flavor as of late: in five of the last eight seasons, an Ohio State player has either won or shared the award. Dwayne Haskins won it last year and was preceded by J.T. Barrett (2016), Ezekiel Elliott (2015) and Braxton Miller (2012 and 2013).
The Buckeyes have the most winners of the Silver Football all-time with 20. This year’s winner will be announced Friday morning.
Dobbins, who is also a finalist for the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, ranks fourth in the country with 1,657 yards and third with 19 touchdowns. Last week, he became just the second player in program history to surpass the 4,000-yard mark for his career. A first-team All-Big Ten selection, Dobbins has a rushing TD in seven straight games and is averaged 175 yards per game against the four best rush defenses that Ohio State has faced.
