Thomas Named Doak Walker Award Candidate
8/30/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
DALLAS, Texas -- University of Michigan junior tailback Anthony Thomas (Winnfield, La./Winnfield HS) has been selected as one of 38 preseason candidates for the 1999 Dr Pepper Doak Walker Award. Presented annually to the nation's top running back as selected by the Southwestern Bell-SMU Athletic Forum, the Doak Walker Award will be awarded for the 10th time this season.
Thomas, the Wolverines' starting tailback, heads into the season opener against Notre Dame (Sept. 4) with 1,442 career rushing yards on 304 carries (4.7 avg.). He has 20 career rushing TDs, including setting the second-best single-season mark with 15 a year ago. Thomas needs 558 yards to become the 18th running back in school history to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark in career rushing yardage and 1,112 rushing yards to reach the top 10. He was selected as the 16th-best running back by Lindy's Magazine this preseason.
| | Thomas |
Thomas becomes the seventh Michigan player to be named as a candidate for the Doak Walker Award. He joins Clarence Williams (1998), Chris Howard (1997), Tshimanga Biakabutuka (1995), Tyrone Wheatley (1993-94), Ricky Powers (1991) and Jon Vaughn (1990). Both Biakabutuka and Vaughn were named finalists for the award.
Following is an alphabetical list of candidates for the 1999 Doak Walker Award:
| PLAYER | YR. | SCHOOL |
| Shaun Alexander | Sr. | Alabama |
| Mike Anderson | Sr. | Utah |
| Gerard Arnold | Jr. | Memphis |
| Trung Canidate | Sr. | Arizona |
| Dwayne Cherrington | Sr. | Colorado |
| Chrys Chukwuma | Sr. | Arkansas |
| Darren Davis | Sr. | Iowa State |
| Ron Dayne | Sr. | Wisconsin |
| Reuben Droughns | Sr. | Oregon |
| Marcus Field | Jr. | California-Berkeley |
| Eric Flowers | Sr. | Central Michigan |
| Dante Hall | Sr. | Texas A&M |
| Thomas Hamner | Sr. | Minnesota |
| Elmarko Jackson | Sr. | Temple |
| James Jackson | Jr. | Miami (Fla.) |
| Thomas Jones | Sr. | Virginia |
| LaMont Jordan | Jr. | Maryland |
| Godfrey Lewis | So. | Bowling Green |
| Jamal Lewis | Jr. | Tennessee |
| Deuce McAllister | Jr. | Mississippi |
| Kevin McDougal | Sr. | Colorado State |
| Travis Minor | Jr. | Florida State |
| Chad Morton | Sr. | Southern California |
| Derrick Nix | So. | Southern Mississippi |
| Rodnick Phillips | Sr. | Southern Methodist |
| Travis Prentice | Sr. | Miami (Ohio) |
| J.R. Redmond | Sr. | Arizona State |
| Ray Robinson | So. | North Carolina State |
| Ketric Sanford | Sr. | Houston |
| Paul Smith | Sr. | Texas-El Paso |
| Shyrone Stith | Jr. | Virginia Tech |
| Anthony Thomas | Jr. | Michigan |
| LaDainian Tomlinson | Jr. | Texas Christian |
| Anthony White | Sr. | Kentucky |
| Michael Wiley | Sr. | Ohio State |
| Boo Williams | Sr. | South Carolina |
| Ricky Williams | Jr. | Texas Tech |
Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
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