Ka’Deem Carey was a consensus All-American last season. Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The award season won’t get interesting for a couple more weeks, when the lists get pared down, so file this under no big surprise:
Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey is one of 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s top running back.
The others, in alphabetical order, are: Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah, Western Kentucky’s Antonio Andrews, South Carolina’s Mike Davis, Stanford’s Tyler Gaffney, Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, Auburn’s Tre Mason, Washington’s Bishop Sankey, Baylor’s Lache Seastrunk and Boston College’s Andre Williams.
Williams leads the nation in rushing with 163.4 yards per game. Carey is second at 152.6.
The Doak Walker selection committee is voting on these 10 candidates, with three finalists selected on Nov. 25. The winner will be announced Dec. 12 during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
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The big news of the week has been that Arizona receiver Austin Hill is back at practice after suffering a torn ACL in spring and that he said publicly for the first time that he will return for his senior season in 2014.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez said Hill didn’t do as much in practice Wednesday as he did Tuesday.
“He and I talked a long time today about everything,” Rodriguez said after Wednesday’s practice.
“It’s just that cleared to practice is different than cleared to play. Hopefully, we got all that cleared up. We’ll see where he is at in the next week or two.”
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Rodriguez, asking about the culture of the locker room in light of the Miami Dolphins’ controversy with Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, said he has a no-hazing policy.
“We make it clear in our first team meeting in August, we don’t allow any hazing, particularly for freshmen,” Rodriguez said.
“Some people have a freshman initiation kind of thing. Every the silly stuff, like tying guys up to goal posts, I don’t allow any of that. I don’t believe in hazing, period. The only thing we require our freshmen to do is put on our annual Gong Show or talent show.
“They all have to participate in that. But half of the upperclassmen participate in it, too, and it just becomes skits and making fun of coaches and other players. Some of them sing, some of them dance and show off their talents. But that’s the only thing freshmen are required to do .
“Anything else, if we even hear a rumor of a freshmen getting hazed, so to speak, there is going to be a price to pay, because I don’t believe in that.”
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UCLA played against Carey last week and now gets to face Sankey of Washington in a Friday night game from the Rose Bowl. Freshman defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes compared the two earlier this week, and was quoted as saying by the L.A. Daily News:
“We’ll see when we play, but on film, I think Sankey might be better than Ka’Deem. Personally. Maybe. That’s a possibility. That’s my opinion. I feel like Sankey’s a little shiftier.”