Utah college football watch list tracker: BYU, Utah, Utah State each represented on latest watch lists

On Thursday, three Utah ties were added to the list of preseason award watch lists with the release of the Wuerffel Trophy and Paul Hornung Award watch lists.
The highest profile of these athletes is Utah senior tight end Brant Kuithe, who was named to the watch list for the Hornung Award, given annually to the nation’s most versatile player. Kuithe is coming off a season-ending ACL injury early in the 2022 season and is a three-time all-Pac-12 selection.
Joining him on the Hornung watchlist is Utah State wide receiver Terrell Vaughn, a senior contributes as a receiver, runner and returner for the Aggies.
BYU defensive end Tyler Batty and Utah State long snapper Jacob Garcia made the list for the Wuerffel Award, which is college football’s premier award for community service.
Batty and Garcia are juniors heading into the 2023 season.
On Wednesday, a pair of Utah ties were named to the Ray Guy Award watch list.
Utah State’s Stephen Kotsanlee and BYU’s Ryan Rehkow were named to the list for the award annually given to the nation’s top college football punter.
Kotsanlee averaged 43.4 yards per punt for the Aggies last season and had more than a third of his 67 punts (24) downed inside the 20-yard line.
Rehkow made the Ray Guy preseason watch list for the third straight year. He averaged 46.2 yards per punt during the 2022 season.
On Tuesday, five more players who play for either Utah or BYU were added to preseason watch lists.
Leading the way were three Utes who were named to the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which is given to the nation’s best interior lineman (can be either an offensive or defensive lineman).
Guard Keaton Bills, offensive tackle Sataoa Laumea and defensive tackle Junior Tafuna were the trio named.
Also named to the list was BYU offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia, who is widely considered to be a potential first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft.
Elsewhere, two Utes were named to the watch list for the Nagurski Trophy, which is given to the nation’s best defensive player overall.
Tafuna was also named to that list, as was safety Cole Bishop.
College football’s annual official award watch list season returned Monday, and the state of Utah is well-represented.
Unveiled on Monday was the watch list for the Maxwell Award, and BYU transfer quarterback Kedon Slovis, BYU transfer running back Aidan Robbins and Utah quarterback Cam Rising were among the 85 names on the list.
The Maxwell Award is given to “the best player in college football.”
Slovis comes to BYU after three seasons at USC and one at Pitt. In all, he has thrown for 9,973 yards with 68 touchdowns against 33 interceptions.
Robbins, meanwhile, comes to BYU after two seasons at Louisville and one at UNLV. He has rushed for 1,062 yards on 216 carries with 10 touchdowns.
As for Rising, he began his collegiate career at Texas but did not appear in a game before transferring to Utah.