Michigan State football's Kenneth Walker III named Big Ten's Running Back of the Year
The hardware from an unexpected season of success continues to mount for Michigan State football.
And it could be the first of many accolades coming this month for Kenneth Walker III.
The junior running back won the Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year award, the first Spartan to do so since its inception in 2011, and was named a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection, the conference announced Wednesday. It is the first major league award for an MSU offensive player since 2015 when Connor Cook won quarterback of the year and Aaron Burbridge was wide receiver of the year.
Walker is the Spartans' first running back to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors since Le'Veon Bell in 2012.
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Walker ranks second in the nation and first among Power 5 players at 1,614 rushing yards and 134.5 yards per game, and his 18 rushing touchdowns are tied for fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He has led the nation in rushing for all but three weeks this fall and also leads the FBS in rushing yards after contact (1,154), carries of 20-or-more yards (21) and missed forced tackles (89).
The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Wake Forest transfer is a finalist for both the Maxwell Award, which goes to the nation's top player, and the Doak Walker Award, for the nation's top running back. Both of those will be presented during the Home Depot College Football Awards show on Dec. 9. Walker also is expected to be among the top vote-getters for the Heisman Trophy, which could land him in New York for the presentation Dec. 11.
After transferring to MSU in January, Walker has produced two games of 200-plus yards — a including a 264-yard, four-touchdown performance at Northwestern that started with a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of his Spartan debut — and eclipsed 100 yards six other times. He ran for 233 yards at Rutgers, which included a 94-yard touchdown run that is the longest play from scrimmage in MSU history. Walker also posted 197 yards in a win over Michigan which included five touchdown runs, the most ever scored in a game by a single player against the Wolverines in the program's 142-season history.
On Tuesday, Mel Tucker was named Big Ten coach of the year for orchestrating the Spartans' 10-2 turnaround this season after his 2-5 debut in 2020.
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Ohio State's C.J. Stroud was named the Big Ten's offensive player of the year, as well as the league's top quarterback and freshman.
Walker was not alone among the MSU honorees from an offense that found significantly improved production this season. Junior wide receiver Jayden Reed was a unanimous third-team selection.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's Kenneth Walker III is Big Ten's RB of Year
