June 30, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss - - Southern Miss football players Damion Fletcher and Gerald McRath were both added to the watch list for national awards the Maxwell Football Club announced today.

Junior running back Damion Fletcher was named to the 2008 Watch List for the 72nd Maxwell Award presented to the most outstanding collegiate football player in America.

Junior linebacker Gerald McRath to the 2008 Watch List for 14th Chuck Bednarik Award given annually to the top Collegiate Defensive player in the nation.

Each list is comprised of seventy-five players who were selected based on their performance during the 2007 season.

Fletcher, who rushed for a single-season school record of 1,586 yards last season, was named by Athlon's Magazine a preseason All-American. Fletcher needs just 26 yards to become only the fourth Golden Eagle to rush for 3,000 yards in their career. The Biloxi, Miss., native has 16, 100-plus rushing games in his 26-game career and won the 2007 Cellular South Conerly Trophy as the top collegiate football player in the state of Mississippi.

McRath, who tallied a team-best 139 tackles last season and is a preseason Lombardi Trophy candidate, was tabbed by Phil Steele's 2008 College Football Magazine as a preseason All-American. The Powder Springs, Ga., product is the reigning Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year.

The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in America since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell. The Chuck Bednarik Award has been presented since 1995 to the top defensive Player and is named in honor of Chuck Bednarik, a former University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Eagle great. Mr. Bednarik is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame 69' and the NFL Hall of Fame 67'.

Semifinalists for the Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced in early November and three finalists for each award will be announced November 25th. The winners of the 2008 Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show in December. The formal presentation of these awards will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Harrah's Entertainment Atlantic City on March 6, 2009.

The watch list candidates have been chosen by the Maxwell Football Club's Selection Committee and the Maxwell Club reserves the right to make additions and subtractions to these lists as the 2008 season unfolds. All members of the Maxwell Football Club, NCAA Sports Information Directors, Head Coaches and selected national media are eligible to vote for these awards.

-southnmiss.com-