Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer will battle for the starting quarterback job at Notre Dame next month when fall camps commence around college football, but however the competition turns out, the Maxwell Award has it covered. Both quarterbacks were named to the award's watch list Tuesday, the only pair of quarterbacks from the same school to make this year's list.
Pittsburgh RB James Conner, who is returning from a bout with Hodgkin lymphoma, was among the 90 players named to the watch list as well.
The Maxwell Award is presented to the best college player in the nation each year, though every player on the watch list is an offensive player. Clemson QB Deshaun Watson and Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey are on the watch list, and were finalists for the award last year. Alabama RB Derrick Henry won the award last season.
Other recent winners of the Maxwell Award include three former first-round draft choices since 2010 (Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Marcus Mariota). AJ McCarron won the award in 2013 and Manti Te'o won it in 2012.
Semifinalists for the award will be announced Oct. 31, and the names of three finalists will be released on Nov. 21. The winner will be announced on Dec. 8.
Watch lists for other awards will be released this month as follows:
July 5: Bednarik Award / Maxwell Award
July 6: Mackey Award / Rimington Trophy
July 7: Lou Groza Award / Ray Guy Award
July 8: Bronko Nagurski Trophy / Outland Trophy
July 11: Jim Thorpe Award
July 12: Butkus Award
July 13: Biletnikoff Award / Wuerffel Trophy
July 14: Davey O'Brien Award / Doak Walker Award
July 15: Walter Camp Award / Paul Hornung Award
2016 Maxwell Award watch list
Tommy Armstrong, Jr., QB, Nebraska
Saquon Barkley, RB, Penn State
J.T. Barrett, QB, Ohio State
C.J. Beathard, QB, Iowa
Mike Boone, RB, Cincinnati
Joel Bouagnon, RB, Northern Illinois
Matt Breida, RB, Georgia Southern
Jake Browning, QB, Washington
James Butler, RB, Nevada
Jake Butt, TE, Michigan
KD Cannon, WR, Baylor
Jehu Chesson, WR, Michigan
Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia
Corey Clement, RB, Wisconsin
Simmie Cobbs, WR, Indiana
James Conner, RB, Pittsburgh
Dalvin Cook, RB, Florida State
Marcus Cox, RB, Appalachian State
Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan
Matt Dayes, RB, N.C. State
Joshua Dobbs, QB, Tennessee
Luke Falk, QB, Washington State
Isaiah Ford, WR, Virginia Tech
Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU
Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon
Wayne Gallman, RB, Clemson
Myles Gaskin, RB, Washington
Chris Godwin, WR, Penn State
Deante' Gray, WR, TCU
Taysom Hill, QB, BYU
Brian Hill, RB, Wyoming
Elijah Hood, RB, North Carolina
O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama
Skyler Howard, QB, West Virginia
Kareem Hunt, RB, Toledo
Jalen Hurd, RB, Tennessee
Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
Justin Jackson, RB, Northwestern
Richie James, WR, Middle Tennessee
Ronald Jones II, RB, USC
Aaron Jones, RB, UTEP
Brad Kaaya, QB, Miami
Chad Kelly, QB, Ole Miss
Gunner Kiel, QB, Cincinnati
Christian Kirk, WR, Texas A&M
DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame
Trevor Knight, QB, Texas A&M
Mitch Leidner, QB, Minnesota
Shock Linwood, RB, Baylor
Wes Lunt, QB, Illinois
Marlon Mack, RB, South Florida
Patrick Mahomes II, QB, Texas Tech
Gabe Marks, WR, Washington State
Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
Elijah McGuire, RB, Louisiana-Lafayette
Travon McMillian, RB, Virginia Tech
Jeremy McNichols, RB, Boise State
Taquan Mizzell, RB, Virginia
Nick Mullens, QB, Southern Miss
Jacobi Owens, RB, Air Force
Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma
Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State
Demario Richard, RB, Arizona State
Calvin Ridley, WR, Alabama
Larry Rose III, RB, New Mexico State
Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA
Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State
Cooper Rush, QB, Central Michigan
Seth Russell, QB, Baylor
Brett Rypien, QB, Boise State
Thomas Sirk, QB, Duke
Ito Smith, RB, Southern Miss
JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, USC
Anu Solomon, QB, Arizona
Brent Stockstil, QB, Middle Tennessee State
Taywan Taylor, WR, Western Kentucky
Justin Thomas, QB, Georgia Tech
Jahad Thomas, RB, Temple
KaVontae Turpin, WR, TCU
P.J. Walker, QB, Temple
Greg Ward, Jr., QB, Houston
Mike Warren, RB, Iowa State
James Washington, WR, Oklahoma State
Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
Davis Webb, QB, Cal
Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
Joseph Yearby, RB, Miami
Marquis Young, RB, Massachusetts
Malik Zaire, QB, Notre Dame
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
