:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35296010/201301130_rvr_su1_049.0.jpg)
The next two weeks will begin bringing a lot of college football information to satiate your desires for anything new. Today kicked off with the preseason watch lists for various post-season awards. What do these pre-season lists mean? A whole lot of nothing, really. They're not indicators of how well a player is going to be. A player is not going to have a mediocre or bad season just because he's not on a watch list. So why report on them?
We're reporting on them because for one thing - as previously noted - there's not a whole lot to talk about right now, and we're getting into the time of year where pre-season speculation is just FUN. We're also reporting on them because Auburn is likely to have a number of players make these lists. This has not often been the case over the past few years. Below is a schedule on the various watch list announcements:
2014 NCAA Preseason Watch List Calendar
Mon., July 7: Bednarik Award/Maxwell Award
Tue., July 8: Mackey Award/Rimington Trophy
Wed., July 9: Lou Groza Award/Ray Guy Award
Thurs., July 10: Bronko Nagurski Trophy/Outland Trophy
Fri., July 11: Jim Thorpe Award
Mon., July 14: Butkus Award/Rotary Lombardi Award
Tue., July 15: Biletnikoff Award
Wed., July 16: Davey O'Brien Award
Thurs., July 17: Doak Walker Award
Fri., July 18: Walter Camp Award
Today we saw three Auburn players recognized. Sammie Coates and Nick Marshall were named to the Maxwell Award Watch List. The Maxwell Award is given to the College Player of the Year. Robenson Therezie was named to the Bednarik Award watch list. The Bednarik Award is presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year. All of these are very deserved.
In addition to this honor, Sammie Coates was also named the #1 "Freak" in college football by FoxSports' Bruce Feldman. A lot of offseason discussion has revolved around Duke Williams, but don't be surprised if Sammie Coates put up bigger numbers than Duke this year. Those two are going to be a special tandem and possibly the best WR duo to player together at Auburn.
In other news there is still no word about what may happen with DB Jonathon Mincy. As soon as word is released it will get blasted out on Twitter and we'll have up something to analyze it.
I expect there will be a few more Auburn players named to these watch lists and others who will emerge throughout the season. We're going to have someone covering and reporting on their progress in a weekly series throughout the season. It should begin with a preview of those players named to watch lists next week.