College football: Wuerffel Trophy unveils record 2016 watch list

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — The Wuerffel Trophy announced its watch list today of a record 88 players from college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

The Wuerffel Trophy, known as “College Football’s Premier Award for Community Service,” is presented annually by the All Sports Association in Fort Walton Beach Florida.  Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida, the Wuerffel Trophy is awarded to the FBS player that best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.

The Atlantic Coast Conference led all conferences with 15 players appearing on the 2016 watch list. Following the ACC are the SEC with 12 players, Conference USA with 10 and the Big 10 and Big 12 with 9 players each. The American Athletic followed with 8 players while the Sun Belt added 7, the PAC 12 submitted 6 and the MAC and Mountain West followed with 4 each. All FBS Conferences are represented on the list, as were Independent representatives BYU and United States Military Academy (Army) with 1 nominee each.

MORE: Check here for full preseason watch lists

Voting for the Wuerffel Trophy is performed by a National Selection Committee that includes college football television and print media, industry notables, former head coaches and prior Wuerffel Trophy recipients.

Nominations for the Wuerffel Trophy are made by the respective universities’ Sports Information departments and will close on Oct. 14.  A current list of nominees can be found at www.wuerffeltrophy.org beginning Aug. 1.  Semifinalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 3 and finalists will be announced on Nov. 23.

The formal announcement of the 2016 recipient will be on Dec. 6 at the National Football Foundation’s press conference in New York City.

The presentation of the 2016 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 48th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on Feb. 10, 2017 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Past winners of the Wuerffel Trophy are:  Rudy Niswanger (LSU-2005), Joel Penton (Ohio State-2006), Paul Smith (Tulsa-2007), Tim Tebow (Florida-2008), Tim Hiller (W. Michigan-2009), Sam Acho (Texas-2010), Barrett Jones (Alabama-2011), Matt Barkley (USC-2012), Gabe Ikard (Oklahoma-2013), Deterrian Shackelford (Ole Miss-2014) and Ty Darlington (Oklahoma-2015).