Senior running back Antario Brown (Savannah, Ga./Beach) of the Northern Illinois University football team was named to the Walter Camp 2024 Player of the Year Preseason Watch List on Monday, as announced by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

This is the second national player of the year watch list Brown has been named to this preseason. He was selected to the Maxwell Award watch list on July 29. Brown is the Mid-American Conference’s leading returning rusher after amassing 1,296 yards and 6.11 yards per carry, which ranked him among the top 20 rushers in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Brown ran for a career-high 280 yards and four touchdowns in the Huskies’ 55-14 at Akron. It was the second-most rushing yards in a single game in FBS last season. His 21.5 yards per carry broke the NIU single-game record set back in 1989 by Stacey Robinson. It was the most rushing yards by a Huskie since Jordan Lynch had 321 yards against Western Michigan in 2013.

Brown is one of two MAC players among the 50 on the Walter Camp Award watchlist with Bowling Green running back Terion Stewart. The 2024 Walter Camp Player of the Year Award will be presented on Dec. 12 on ESPN’s College Football Awards Show.

This is the fourth preseason award watch list selection for the NIU football team. Trayvon Rudolph (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee) was named to the Paul Hornung award watch list last week along with Cade Haberman’s (Blair, Neb./Westside) to the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy watch list.

The Huskies open the 2024 season at Huskie Stadium on Saturday, August 31 against Western Illinois. Check out all of the ticket options and buy tickets anytime online at NIUHuskies.com/myhuskies. To request more information and connect with a member of the NIU ticket staff, call the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225). Calls received outside of business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm CT) will be returned the next business day.