The accolades keep rolling in for Virginia Tech redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams. He didn’t actually win this honor, but being named one of the 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award is a pretty nice accomplishment.

Of the players named to the semifinalist list, all but two are upperclassmen. Pitt’s Dion Lewis is the only other freshman.

Here’s the list …

Donald Buckram (Jr.) UTEP
Jonathan Dwyer (Jr.) Georgia Tech
Toby Gerhart (Sr.) Stanford
Mark Ingram (So.) Alabama
Dion Lewis (Fr.) Pittsburgh
Ryan Mathews (Jr.) Fresno State
Jacquizz Rodgers (So.) Oregon State
C.J. Spiller (Sr.) Clemson
Ben Tate (Sr.) Auburn
Ryan Williams (Fr.) Virginia Tech

Williams has rushed for 1,109 yards and has 11 total touchdowns. He is closing in on the freshman rushing and scoring records at Tech, both of which were set by Darren Evans last year (1,265 rushing yards, 11 touchdowns).

Three finalists for the Doak Walker Award will be named on Nov. 23, and the winner will be announced live on ESPNU on Thursday, Dec. 10.

A freshman has never won the award. Darren McFadden, formerly of Arkansas and now a member of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, is the only sophomore to have won.

Here is the list of the past Doak Walker Award winners …

1990, Greg Lewis, Washington
1991, Trevor Cobb, Rice
1992, Garrison Hearst, Georgia
1993, Byron “Bam” Morris, Texas Tech
1994, Rashaan Salaam, Colorado
1995, Eddie George, Ohio State
1996, Byron Hanspard, Texas Tech
1997, Ricky Williams, Texas
1998, Ricky Williams, Texas
1999, Ron Dayne, Wisconsin
2000, LaDanian Tomlinson, TCU
2001, Luke Staley, BYU
2002, Larry Johnson, Penn State
2003, Chris Perry, Michigan
2004, Cedric Benson, Texas
2005, Reggie Bush, USC
2006, Darren McFadden, Arkansas
2007, Darren McFadden, Arkansas
2008, Shonn Greene, Iowa