The Walter Camp Football Foundation has announced the names of 52 “players to watch” for its 2022 Player of the Year award, the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade. There are 44 offensive players (22 quarterbacks, 12 running backs and 10 receivers/tight ends) on the preseason watch list along with eight from the defensive side of the ball. Kent State's Dante Cephas, Miami's Brett Gabbert, and Central Michigan's Lew Nichols III represent the Mid-American Conference on this season's list.

Cephas  finished the season with 82 catches for 1,240 yards, becoming the first Kent State wide receiver to top 1,000 yards since 1997. Cephas also finished with seven 100-yard games and nine receiving touchdowns. His receptions, yards and touchdowns were all top-three in the Mid-American Conference. He was named first-team all-conference for his stellar 2021 season.

Last season Gabbert earned third-team All-MAC accolades, throwing for 2,648 yards and 26 touchdowns in 10 starts. The junior, who was also named Academic All-MAC, threw just six interceptions in 299 attempts. He recorded 492 passing yards (third-most in school history) to go along with five touchdowns at Ohio and finished with 351 passing yards and four scores in a win over Buffalo. His 843 passing yards in consecutive games was the most in a two-game span in program history.

Nichols, a sophomore from Detroit, led the nation in rushing in 2021 with 1,848 yards and all-purpose yardage with 2,186 yards. He scored 18 touchdowns, was named the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Year and earned the team's Herb Deromedi Most Valuable Player Award.

The 2022 watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in mid-November.  The 2022 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 130 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced on ESPN’s College Football Awards Show (date TBD).

The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s 55th annual national awards banquet in New Haven, Conn in early 2023.