The preseason award watch lists continue to roll in, and the Walter Camp Award is up next. Five Big Ten players appear among the 50-player watch list. The Walter Camp Award goes to the nation's top player.

Here's the Big Ten contingent:

• Wisconsin senior RB Montee Ball
• Nebraska senior RB Rex Burkhead
• Michigan State junior DE William Gholston
• Penn State junior RB Silas Redd
• Michigan senior QB Denard Robinson

Not a bad list. Ball earned Walter Camp second-team All-America honors in 2011, and he's among the nation's top candidates to win this year's award. Although a defensive player hasn't won the Walter Camp Award since Michigan's Charles Woodson in 2007, it's nice to see Gholston get some recognition before what could be a huge junior season.

Several other Big Ten players could have been included here -- Ohio State DE John Simon and Purdue DT Kawann Short come to mind -- but the five included certainly are deserving. Ten semifinalists for the Walter Camp Award will be named in mid-November, and the winner will be announced Dec. 6 during the Home Depot College Football Awards.

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith (2006) was the last Big Ten player to win the Walter Camp Award.