Cody Kessler, Su’a Cravens On 2015 Walter Camp Award Watch List

USC’s Cody Kessler and Su’a Cravens were named to the 2015 Walter Camp Award watch list Friday, as potential candidates to be named the Player of the Year in college football this season.

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This is the fourth watch list for Kessler, after he was named to lists for the Maxwell Award, Weurffel Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award.

The redshirt senior quarterback is also a preseason Heisman front-runner after his record-setting 2014 season. All told, Kessler threw for 3,826 yards with a USC record-tying 39 passes with just five interceptions on the year. His completion percentage of 69.7% and passer rating of 167.1 was the highest a Trojan quarterback has ever produced.

With numbers comparable to the Heisman seasons of Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart in 2014, Kessler would need to improve his performances only marginally to keep himself in the national conversation in 2015.

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Cravens is just one of 13 defensive players on the list out of a total of 50. He too has appeared on his share of watch lists this offseason, including the Bednarik, Nagurksi and Butkus Award lists.

In just his first year as a linebacker — he earned Freshman All-American recognition as a safety in 2013 — Cravens enjoyed a stand out year. He led the Trojans in tackles for loss with 17, including five sacks, and interceptions with three in his hybrid role. At season’s end he was named USC’s Defensive Perimeter Player of the Year and earned a place on the All-Pac-12 first team, in addition to third team All-American selections.

Now a junior, Cravens is one of the leaders of USC’s defense and should be an even more dominant force with a year under his belt at his position.

The Trojans have had five Walter Camp winners in its history. O.J. Simpson won the inaugural trophy followed by Charles White, Marcus Allen, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.