Big group up for Thorpe honor

2012 major awards watch lists

OKLAHOMA CITY — On Friday, the Jim Thorpe Association announced the 2012 Preseason Watch List for the Jim Thorpe Award given to the best defensive back in college football. 

The list includes 35 of the top defensive backs in the country representing 11 conferences.  

The Thorpe Award is named after history’s greatest athlete, Jim Thorpe, and is presented by the Jim Thorpe Association in Oklahoma City. Thorpe excelled at every sport in which he competed, including football at which he played on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The 2012 Olympics mark the 100-year anniversary of Thorpe winning gold in the decathlon and pentathlon at the Stockholm Olympics.

The Jim Thorpe Award watch list is chosen by a screening committee who compiles a list of 30-40 players each year.  The list is not final and players who have outstanding seasons are added as the season progresses.  The Thorpe Award winner is selected from three finalists and will be announced at The Home Depot College Football Awards on December 6, 2012 on ESPN.

The Jim Thorpe Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.