COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football junior Damarea Crockett (Little Rock, Ark.) has been named to the Doak Walk Award Preseason Watch List, announced Wednesday (July 18). The initial watch list for the Doak Walk Award, which honors the nation’s top running back at the end of the season, features 64 of the nation’s elite, including Crockett.

Crockett is one of the SEC’s most dynamic running backs and he will return to Mizzou’s backfield after missing the second half of his sophomore campaign in 2017 with a shoulder injury. His blend of speed, size and power make him a candidate to break off big run after big run as he will have 1,000-yard potential moving into the year. In 2016, Crockett set Mizzou freshman records for rushing yards in a season (1,062), rushing yards in a single game (225), rushing touchdowns in a season (10) and tied the school record with four rushing TDs in a single game vs. Middle Tennessee (10/22). He finished the regular season ranked sixth in the SEC in rushing yards per game (105.8), tops among SEC freshmen. His 7.3 yards per carry ranked third among all qualified rushers in SEC games and again tops among freshmen.
Crockett ended the regular season ranked first in the nation among freshmen in rushing (96.5 yards per game) and that year he was the first SEC true freshman to rush for more than 1,000 yards since Georgia’s Nick Chubb and LSU’s Leonard Fournette did so in 2014. He was also Mizzou’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Russell Hansbrough in 2014.

Mizzou Football will open the 2018 season on Sept. 1, 2018, against UT Martin at Memorial Stadium.

— Mizzou Atheltics —