Senior running back Antario Brown (Savannah, Ga./Beach) was named to a national preseason watch list for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as the PwC SMU Athletic Forum announced Brown as a preseason candidate for the Doak Walker Award.

This is the third national watch list Brown has been selected to this preseason. He was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list on Monday and the Maxwell Award watch list on July 29.

Brown was 15^th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2023 with 1,296 yards and 16^th with 6.11 yards per carry. He had four games of 150 yards or more last season, including a career-high 280 yards and four touchdowns on just 13 carries in a win at Akron. It was the second-most rushing yards in a single game in 2023 behind Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II, last year’s Doak Walker Award winner, who ran for 282 yards against West Virginia.

Brown is the 13^th running back in NIU football history to rush for over 2,500 career yards. He is fifth all-time at NIU in yards per carry at 6.33 and 10^th with 78.8 rushing yards per game. Brown has eight 100-yard rushing yard games in his career with five games of at least 150 yards.

The Doak Walker Award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding college running back. The PwC SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors will name 10 semifinalists in November, and three finalists, as voted on by the Doak Walker Award National Selection Committee will also be announced in November.

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.