Ohio State junior quarterback Justin Fields was named Friday to the 2020 Maxwell Award Watch List.
The Maxwell Award is handed out each season to the best all-around player in the country.
It predates the Heisman, first being handed out in 1937.
Howard ‘Hopalong’ Cassady was the first Buckeye to win it, in 1955. Since then, Bob Ferguson (1961), Archie Griffin (1975), and Eddie George (1995) have all won it.
Former Buckeye Joe Burrow won it last fall as a member of the LSU Tigers.
This season Fields has an opportunity to bring it back to Columbus for the first time in a quarter-century.
He finished the 2019 season with 41 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. Fields completed 238 of his 354 passing attempts (67.2 percent) for 3,273 yards.
He also rushed for 484 yards and scored 10 touchdowns on the ground.
Fields’ best game statistically (non-Rutgers division) came against Michigan in the 2019 regular season finale. That day, he shredded Don Brown’s defense for 302 passing yards and four touchdowns through the air, while rushing for 25 more yards. More impressively, this came just a week after injuring his knee against Penn State.
He is also on the watch list for the Davey O’Brien award.
Fields and the Buckeyes returned to walkthrough practices Friday for the first time since March.
You can find tweets announcing Fields’ place on the watch list below.
Congratulations @justnfields for being selected for the Maxwell Award Watchlist! ? #GoBuckeyes
— Maxwell Football (@MaxwellFootball) July 24, 2020
The @MaxwellFootball club today announced its watch list for the 84th Maxwell Award presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Yes, indeed! 2019 semifinalist and Heisman Trophy finalist @justnfields is being watched. @OhioStateFB. #GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/YjhS8y6KFe
— Jerry Emig (@BuckeyeNotes) July 24, 2020