As the pre-season awards watch lists continue to roll out this week and next we now have five ACC players on the Jim Thorpe list.
The award goes to the best defensive back in the nation every year since 1986.
ACC Defensive Backs
The ACC representatives on the list are as follows:
Shyheim Brown, Florida State, Redshirt Junior, defensive back
Quincy Riley, Louisville, Redshirt Senior, defensive back
Aydan White, NC State, Senior, cornerback
Donovan McMillon, Pitt, Senior, defensive back
Jonas Sanker, Virginia, Senior, safety
There are 42 players on the overall list. They are from nine conferences and one independent, (Notre Dame defensive back Xavier Watts).
The Process
The system for determination is a little different than some of the other pre-season awards lists we have highlighted this week.
The preseason watch list is selected by a screening committee whose members compile a list of up to 50 players based on previous performance in NCAA Division I college football and preseason All-America lists.
Players can be added as the season progresses based on their on-field performance.
Semifinalists will be announced on October 29. The three finalists will be announced on November 26. Their names are then submitted to a national panel of over 250 sports writers, sportscasters, former players, and coaches who vote to determine the winner of the award. The winner will be announced on the ESPN live presentation of The Home Depot College Football Award in December.
Thorpe
There is a ceremony for the winner in February in Oklahoma City, OK. Thorpe was born in 1888 near the Prague Indian territory in what is now Oklahoma. Thus, the award’s ties to the state as well as the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. He was named to the Walter Camp All-American team, (the oldest All-American team in the country) in 1911 and 1912. He played his college football for Pop Warner at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. In his last season there his Carlisle team beat West Point with star player Dwight Eisenhower.
From there Thorpe went on to Olympics and NFL stardom.
The entire list of award watch list releases for the week is here.
The entire watch list for the 2024 Jim Thorpe Award is here.
