Brandon Radcliff, Sheldon Rankins Named to Maxwell and Bednarik Award Watch Lists

Part of maneuvering the seemingly endless desert of the college football offseason is training yourself to get excited about award watch lists. So here's your chance to practice! Today the award watch lists for the Maxwell Award and the Bednarik Award were released. A Louisville player made each of the watch lists.

The Maxwell Award is given annually to the college football (offensive) player of the year. Louisville running back Brandon Radcliff has been named to the award's watch list for the 2015 season. Radcliff, despite not seeing significant playing time until a few games into the season and sharing reps with both Michael Dyer and Dominique Brown throughout the year, still led the team in rushing and figures to have a big year as the primary ball-carrier this year.

If you're looking for yet another indicator of how difficult the opening game against Auburn will be, the Tigers have both a quarterback and running back on the list. Future opponents NC State, Houston, Auburn, Florida State, Clemson, Boston College and Pitt have at least one player on the watch list as well. You can see the full list below.

The Bednarik Award is given to the annual defensive player of the year and this year, Sheldon Rankins is listed. Rankins has heaped up praise in preseason magazines and lists as a possible all-ACC and All-America candidate. You can see the full list below.