Missing nearly all of last season with a knee injury didn't prevent Florida State DB Derwin James from making the watch list for the 2017 Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation's top defensive back.
James, a top draft prospect who called himself the best player in college football Thursday at the ACC Kickoff media event, leads a group of 45 players named to the initial watchlist. James will be a junior this fall, and NFL.com analyst Daniel Jeremiah has compared his skill set to that of Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. James missed all but two games as a sophomore last year, but was among the top defensive backs in the nation as a freshman in 2015.
Other top defensive backs on the list include James' teammate, CB Tarvarus McFadden, Alabama DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, Louisville CB Jaire Alexander, Virginia safety Quin Blanding, Florida CB Duke Dawson, Indiana CB Rashard Fant, LSU CB Donte Jackson and Texas A&M safety Armani Watts.
Adoree' Jackson, the No. 18 overall pick of the Tennessee Titans in this year's draft, was last year's Thorpe Award winner. Other notable past winners include Deion Sanders, Charles Woodson and Patrick Peterson.
The SEC and ACC led all conferences in Thorpe Award watch list players with seven each. This year's winner will be announced at The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 7 from a group of three finalists.
The complete 2017 Thorpe Award watch list:
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Brandon Addison, Old Dominion
Jaire Alexander, Louisville
Marcus Allen, Penn State
Dravon Askew-Henry, West Virginia
Quin Blanding, Virginia
Joe Brown, WKU
Andre Chachere, San Jose State
Sean Chandler, Temple
Justin Clifton, Arkansas State
Amari Coleman, Central Michigan
Kamari Cotton-Moya, Iowa State
Duke Dawson, Florida
Clifton Duck, Appalachian State
Mike Edwards, Kentucky
Rashard Fant, Indiana
Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alabama
Tre Flowers, Oklahoma State
Chase Hansen, Utah
Heath Harding, Miami
Ronnie Harrison, Alabama
Godwin Igwebuike, Northwestern
Donte Jackson, LSU
Derwin James, Florida State
Chris Jones, Nebraska
Shawun Lurry, NIU
Iman Marshall, USC
Kishawn McClain, North Texas
Tarvarus McFadden, Florida State
Quenton Meeks, Stanford
Deatrick Nichols, USF
Parry Nickerson, Tulane
Nick Orr, TCU
Taylor Rapp, Washington
Jeremy Reaves, South Alabama
D.J. Reed, Kansas State
Justin Reid, Stanford
Dominick Sanders, Georgia
M.J. Stewart, North Carolina
Greg Stroman, Virginia Tech
Jaleel Wadood, UCLA
Denzel Ward, Ohio State
Armani Watts, Texas A&M
Jordan Whitehead, Pitt
Andrew Wingard, Wyoming
Jalen Young, FAU
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
