Michigan State running back Cam Edwards keeps stacking up preseason recognition, and now he’s on the Doak Walker Award Watch List.
The fifth-year back has been tabbed for the annual honor given to the nation’s most outstanding running back, adding to a résumé that already included a spot on the Maxwell Award Watch List earlier this month. That award is presented to the most outstanding player in college football.
Edwards arrives in East Lansing after a huge 2025 season at UConn, where he put together career-best numbers across the board. He ran for 1,240 yards and 15 touchdowns on 210 carries, while also catching 19 passes for 187 yards. Those numbers put him near the top of the FBS in several categories last year, including tied for ninth in total touchdowns with 16, 13th in rushing touchdowns, 15th in rushing yards, 17th in rushing yards per game at 95.4, 22nd in all-purpose yards with 1,427 and 23rd in yards per carry at 5.9.
Over four seasons with the Huskies from 2022-25, the Norwalk, Connecticut, native built a strong career profile. In 36 games with 23 starts, he finished among UConn’s all-time leaders in several major categories: tied for first in rushing yards per carry at 5.6, fifth in rushing yards with 2,690, fifth in rushing touchdowns with 27 and ninth in carries with 467. The 5-11, 206-pound back was also a third-team Group of Five All-American in 2025, led UConn in rushing for three straight seasons and logged nine career 100-yard games.
Edwards transferred to Michigan State in January and took part in spring practice with the Spartans. He heads into the 2026 season ranked among the active FBS leaders in rushing yards, sitting fourth with 2,690, and rushing touchdowns, where he’s sixth with 27, according to CBS Sports.
Michigan State has already seen one running back win the Doak Walker Award. Kenneth Walker III became the first Spartan to claim it in 2021, during his lone season in East Lansing, when he rushed for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns and earned unanimous first-team All-America honors.
The Spartans will open the 2026 season on Friday, Sept. 4 against Toledo at 8 p.m. in East Lansing.
The Doak Walker Award is named for SMU’s three-time All-America running back Doak Walker. The PwC SMU Athletic Forum will name 10 semifinalists in November, then three finalists later that month.
The National Selection Committee will vote again in December to determine the winner, who will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 10, 2026.
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