NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew II was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List, the Walter Camp Foundation announced Wednesday.

Minshew II was one for 15 players named to the watch list for the fourth-oldest college football award in the country. Minshew II is the only player from the Pac-12 Conference named to the watch list. Former Cougar defensive lineman Hercules Mata'afa was named a finalist for the same award last season.

Minshew II has guided the Cougars to a 9-1 record and a No. 8 national ranking while leading the nation in passing yards (3,852), passing yards-per-game (385.2) and total offense-per-game (393.8). The graduate transfer from Brandon, Miss. is sixth in the country with a Pac-12-best 29 touchdown passes and also leads the country with five games of 400+ passing yards.

Minshew II is also semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award (Nation's Best College Quarterback), a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year), was named to the Top-15 for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Top Senior or 4^th-year junior) and to the Midseason National Performer of the Year Trophy Watch List by the College Football Performance Awards.

The Walter Camp Player of the Year is voted on by the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.   A list of five finalists will be announced on Wednesday, November 28, and the winner broadcast live on ESPN SportsCenter on Thursday, December 7.  The 2018 Player of the Year will be recognized along with the Walter Camp All-America team at the Foundation's national awards dinner on Saturday, January 12, 2019 at Yale University's Lanman Center.

Walter Camp, "The Father of American football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side
 
The Walter Camp Football Foundation (www.waltercamp.org,@WalterCampFF) – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.  The Foundation 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. For more information, visit the association's website, www.ncfaa.org