TU's Watts Named Finalist For Burlsworth Trophy

The Burlsworth Trophy and presenting sponsor, the Springdale (Ark.) Rotary Club, announced today the 10 student-athletes selected as semifinalists for the 2013 Burlsworth Trophy. Fifty-three players were originally nominated for the award.

University of Tulsa running back Trey Watts (5-11, 200) has been selected as one of the 10 semifinalists for the award.

A senior from Fairfax, Va., Watts leads Tulsa and is second in Conference USA for rushing with 1,026 yards through 10 games this season. It marks the second straight 1,000-yard rushing season for Watts, making him only the fourth player in school history with 1,000 yards in two separate seasons. Watts ranks fifth in the country for all-purpose yards, 18th for rushing yards and 24th for rushing yards per game. Watts leads C-USA in all-purpose yards with his 170.7-yard average per game. He has turned in six 100-yard rushing games this season with a career-best 169 yards last week against Marshall.

In his 47-game career, Watts is just the second Tulsa player to surpass 5,000 all-purpose yards with 5,896 yards and is just the third Hurricane player to rush for over 3,000 yards with 3,132 yards and 15 TDs. He has 27 career 100-yard all-purpose games and 13 career 100-yard rushing games. Watts has also caught 100 career passes for 1,129 yards and six touchdowns.

The Burlsworth Trophy is given to the most outstanding collegiate football player who began his career as a walk-on. A walk-on is defined as a player who began his first season of participation with a Division I (FBS) football program without financial aid of any kind from his university's athletic department.

The 2012 winner was Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin, who set nine school records during his senior year and made his first NFL start last week for the Oakland Raiders. Previous Burlsworth Trophy winners were Southern Mississippi quarterback Austin Davis in 2011, and Georgia Tech center Sean Bedford in 2010.