Southern Miss lands 2 on Maxwell Award watch list
Southern Miss landed a pair of players on the watch list for the prestigious Maxwell Award on Tuesday.
USM senior quarterback Nick Mullens and junior running back Ito Smith both made the early watch list for the honor, which is awarded to the top college football player each season.
Mullens broke nearly every USM single-season passing record in 2015, completing 63.5 percent of his passes for 4,476 yards, 38 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Smith also had a breakout season in 2015, leading USM in rushing with 171 carries for 1,156 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also caught 49 passes for 515 yards and three scores.
Smith ranked 18th in the nation in all-purpose yardage, averaging 134 yards a game.
Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly and LSU running back Leonard Fournette also made the watch list for the award.
Kelly completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,042 yards, 31 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his first season as the Ole Miss starter a year ago.
Fournette had a big sophomore campaign in 2015, rushing 300 times for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Alabama running back Derrick Henry won the Maxwell Award last season.
Semifinalists for the award will be announced Oct. 31 and the names of three finalists will be released on Nov. 21. The winner will announced on Dec. 8.
This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Southern Miss lands 2 on Maxwell Award watch list."