Football’s Kelly Earns Spot On Walter Camp Watch List
TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State University football student-athlete Taylor Kelly has been named to the 2014 Walter Camp Player of the Year Preseason Watch List, the Walter Camp Football Foundation announced Friday.
Kelly, who has also been selected to the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Award Watch Lists, as well as nominated to the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, is one of 50 student-athletes, 16 quarterbacks and 10 Pac-12 representatives on the preseason list. This is the second consecutive season a Sun Devil has earned Walter Camp preseason recognition following former defensive tackle Will Sutton in 2013.
Kelly enters the season with the second most career starts for a quarterback in the Pac-12 at 27 and is just the second Sun Devil in school history to have multiple seasons with 3,000-plus passing yards. He earned Second Team All-Pac-12 honors in 2013 after he threw for 3,635 yards, the third most in a single season in school history, and moved into the top five on seven single-season school record lists, including passing yards, completions, total offense and points responsible for, among others.
He graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree, including a second team member in 2013.
A total of six different Sun Devils have earned nods on 11 different preseason award watch lists and teams this summer.
2014 Sun Devil Award Watch Lists
Camp Player of the Year – Taylor Kelly
Walker Award (nation’s most outstanding running back) – D.J. Foster
O’Brien Award (nation’s most outstanding quarterback) – Kelly
Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® (charitable involvement and community service contributions) - Kelly
Biletnikoff Award (nation’s most outstanding receiver) – Jaelen Strong
Lombardi Award (nation’s most outstanding down lineman or linebacker) – Jamil Douglas
Outland Trophy (nation’s most outstanding interior lineman) – Douglas
Groza Award (nation’s most outstanding placekicker) – Zane Gonzalez
Mackey Award (nation’s most outstanding tight end) – De’Marieya Nelson
Maxwell Award (America's College Player of the Year) – Foster, Kelly, Strong
Hornung Award (nation's most versatile player) – Foster
ASU opens its campaign toward the Pac-12 Championship on Aug. 28 at Sun Devil Stadium against Weber State and the remaining home schedule includes UCLA on Sept. 25, a rematch with Stanford on Oct. 18 and a non-conference game with Notre Dame on Nov. 8.
Season tickets are currently on sale at www.sundeviltickets.com, by calling the Sun Devil Athletics Ticket Office at 480-965-5812, making an appointment with a Sun Devil Sales and Service staff member, or visiting the Sun Devil Ticket Office, located on the south end of Sun Devil Stadium. The ticket office is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Click here for pricing and more information about Sun Devil Football season tickets.
In addition to guaranteeing the same seat for all 2014 home games, becoming a Sun Devil Football Season Ticket Holder is the only way to guarantee tickets to the Notre Dame game on Nov. 8, 2014, at Sun Devil Stadium.
About the Walter Camp Player of the Year
The watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November. The 2014 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 125 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, Dec. 11. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s annual national awards banquet on Jan. 17, 2015 at the Yale University Commons in New Haven.
“We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp and recognize the best college football players in the nation,” Foundation president James Monico said. “This watch list is a great start to what is shaping up to be another exciting year of college football.”