It doesn’t come as a huge shock. However, it’s one more indication of just how far the Nebraska football program has fallen over the last decade. On Monday, the Maxwell Award Watch List was officially released and not a single Nebraska Cornhusker made the 80-player list.
Granted, it’s hard to come up with many players that would have any business being on the list to start the season. Dylan Raiola has built up quite a bit of buzz, but no one, not even the most ardent Husker fan would expect a true freshman who hasn’t taken a college snap to make the list.
As far as running backs and wide receivers go, there’s a couple of names that could be mentioned, but none that really stand out as All-Big Ten players yet, let alone as one of the best players in the country.
No Nebraska football players named to Maxwell Award Watch List
The good news here is that this watch list can change and grow as the season goes on. It’s not a situation where only players on the list today can win the award. One could hope that by midseason, if everything is going right for Nebraska football that someone could find themselves at least a candidate.
While the Huskers don’t have anyone on the list, there are plenty of guys hoping to win the Maxwell from the Big Ten.
Michigan’s Donovan Edwards, Minnesota’s Darius Taylor, Ohio State’s Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins and Emeka Egbuka are all on the list. So is Oregon’s Tez Johnson and Dillon Gabriel, Penn State’s Nicholas Singleton and Drew Allar, Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai, USC’s Miller Moss and Washington’s Will Rogers are all representing the Big Ten.
In a way, some of those names show that a Nebraska football player doens’t have to do a ton to get on the watch list.