More preseason accolades for Tulsa football players
Tulsa senior running back Shamari Brooks was recently named to the preseason watch list for the 84th Maxwell Award presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football.
The week prior, Brooks was named to the watch list for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation's top running back. His backfield teammate, Corey Taylor II, was also named to the Walker Award watch list.
Brooks is currently fifth on Tulsa's career rushing list and ninth for career rushing touchdowns. He has 2,700 rushing yards and 23 TDs in 32 career games and needs 1,218 yards to surpass the school's all-time leading rusher, D'Angelo Brewer.
Last season, Brooks ran for a team-high 1,046 yards and six scores in 12 games, which earned him second-team American Athletic Conference honors.
Also receiving preseason recognition last week were TU defensive back Akayleb Evans and offensive lineman Chris Paul. The two juniors were named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list, along with 112 other players from college football's Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Wuerffel Trophy is known as "College Football's Premier Award for Community Service" and is named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel. The award honors college football players who serve others, celebrate their positive impact on society, and inspire greater service in the world.
According to a TU media release, Evans began the Akayleb Evans Foundation in his hometown of McKinney, Texas, three years ago. The Foundation started the #TouchdownwithToys event every Christmas and this past May provided gift cards to staff members at the McKinney Urgent Care in showing appreciation for their fight against COVID-19.
Evans has participated in volunteer activities with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, the community school welcome back for elementary children, the Martin Luther King Day parade, and the Greenwood Leadership Academy.
At the 2019 American Athletic Conference Academic Consortium, he made a presentation on the topic “More than an Athlete”.
Evans has started 14 of 21 career games at cornerback, amassing 53 career tackles and eight pass breakups.
Chris Paul, who was recently named as the American Athletic Conference’s representative to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for 2020-21, will serve as chair of the conference’s SAAC executive board for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years.
Paul was also named to Tulsa’s Ultimate Team in 2019-20, an award that recognizes the school’s top student-athletes based on academic success, athletic achievement, campus involvement, character and community outreach.
Paul has volunteered at the Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, Read Across America, Lift Up America and at the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. He is also a member of the University Ambassadors, Student Association, Future Alumni Council and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Paul started all 12 games last season at left guard for Tulsa. He also started eight games at right guard as a redshirt freshman in 2018. Paul could possibly move to right tackles in the upcoming season.
These players join a handful of other Tulsa athletes that previously picked up preseason honors. Hurricane receiver Keylon Stokes was recently named to the Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List, an honor that recognizes college football’s most outstanding FBS receiver regardless of position, and linebacker Zaven Collins was named to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented annually to the outstanding defensive player in college football.
Collins and deep-snapper Adam Higuera landed on Phil Steele’s Preseason All-America Fourth Team.