University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Nix Named To Doak Walker "Watch List"
8/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nix Named To Doak Walker "Watch List"
Among the field of candidates are Maryland junior Bruce Perry, a 2001 Doak Walker Award finalist, who ran for 1,242 and scored 10 touchdowns last season; Nevada sophomore Chance Kretschmer, who led the country in rushing last year with 1,732 yards and scored 15 touchdowns; and Wisconsin junior Anthony Davis, the nation's second-leading rusher, who totaled 1,466 yards last season.
After missing the last season and a half battling a kidney ailment, Nix is healthy and is ready to have a great ending to his career. He is Southern Miss' first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher since Ben Garry did it in 1977 and 1978, totaling 1,180 yards as a freshman and 1,054 yards as a sophomore. He scored nine touchdowns as a freshman and eight as a sophomore.
Nix, a first-team all-Conference USA selection in 1998 and second team in 1999, currently has 2,390 career rushing yards, eighth place on the all-time Southern Miss career rushing chart and fourth on the Conference USA career rushing chart. He is also ninth on the Conference USA career rushing touchdown list.
Nix started the first four games of the 2000 season, his junior season, before sustaining a high ankle sprain against Memphis. He was taking anti-inflammatory medicine to keep the swelling down in his ankle when he had an allergic kidney reaction to the medication he was taking, causing him to retain fluid weight. He came back for a brief appearance in the Louisville game but didn't play the remainder of that season. He participated in spring drills of 2001 before having more complications during the summer, forcing him to redshirt during the 2001 season.
2002 Doak Walker Award "Watch List"
Marion Barber, III (So.), Minnesota
Cedric Benson (So.), Texas
Chris Brown (Jr.), Colorado
Dante Brown (Sr.), Memphis
Kerry Carter (Sr.), Stanford
ShanDerrick Charles (So.), SMU
Avon Cobourne (Sr.), West Virginia
Anthony Davis (Jr.), Wisconsin
Dahrran Diedrick (Sr.), Nebraska
Clarence Farmer (Jr.), Arizona
Brock Forsey (Sr.), Boise State
Ahmaad Galloway (Sr.), Alabama
Earnest Graham (Jr.), Arizona
Aaron Greving (Sr.), Iowa
Quentin Griffin (Sr.), Oklahoma
Thomas Hammock (Sr.), Northern Illinois
Joe Haro (Sr.), UNLV
Antoineo Harris (Sr.), Illinois
Dwone Hicks (Sr.), Middle Tennessee State
Joe Igber (Sr.), California
Steven Jackson (So.), Oregon State
Terrence Jackson (Jr.), Central Michigan
Larry Johnson (Sr.), Penn State
Greg Jones (Jr.), Florida State
Chance Kretschmer (So.), Nevada
Montrell Lowe (Sr.), Purdue
Marcus Merriweather (Sr.), Ball State
Mewelde Moore (Jr.), Tulane
Cal Murray (Jr.), Miami, Ohio
Derrick Nix (Sr.), Southern Miss
Brandon Payne (Sr.), Akron
Bruce Perry (Jr.), Maryland
Artose Pinner (Sr.), Kentucky
Andrew Pinnock (Sr.), South Carolina
Cecil Sapp (Sr.), Colorado State
Tanardo Sharps (Sr.), Temple
Musa Smith (Jr.), Georgia
Fred Talley (Jr.), Arkansas
LaBrandon Toefield (Jr.), LSU
Franklin Wallace (Jr.), Marshall
Carnell Williams (So.), Auburn
Tarence Williams (Sr.), Wake Forest
