UCLA Football's Zach Charbonnet Named Maxwell Award Semifinalist

After a career night at the Rose Bowl, Zach Charbonnet has locked in his spot in the race for some major hardware.

The UCLA football running back was one of the 20 players named a semifinalist for the 2022 Maxwell Award, Maxwell Football Club Executive Director Mark Wolpert announced Tuesday. Charbonnet and quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson were both included on the the preseason watch list back in July, which featured 85 players, but the former is the only Bruin who survived the cut heading into November.

Charbonnet was also named the Doak Walker Running Back of the Week on Tuesday, thanks to his game-breaking performance in UCLA's 38-13 win over Stanford on Saturday. The former Michigan transfer tied his career-highs with 198 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, all while also leading the Bruins with five receptions for 61 yards.

On the season, Charbonnet has rushed for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns, adding 232 yards on 20 receptions on top of that.

Charbonnet ranks No. 8 in the country in total rushing yards and is tied for No. 11 in rushing touchdowns, but he ranks No. 3 in rushing yards per game with 137.7, No. 2 in all-purpose yards per game with 170.86 and No. 1 in yards per carry with 7.53. Honing in on the Pac-12, Charbonnet leads the conference in rushing yards and yards from scrimmage.

UCLA's top running back already has 1,196 yards from scrimmage, putting him on pace for 2,221 total yards should the Bruins make the conference championship game and actually play their bowl game this season. That mark would be the most by a player in the Pac-12 since Stanford's Christian McCaffrey was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 2015.

That pace comes despite a relatively slow start to the season for Charbonnet, who missed UCLA's Week 2 matchup with FCS opponent Alabama State and only rushed for 78 yards against South Alabama in Week 3. In just five Pac-12 appearances, however, Charbonnet is averaging 155 rushing yards per game.

Should he appear in 13 games this season, Charbonnet is on pace to break UCLA's single-season rushing yards record, which currently belongs to Johnathan Franklin, who went for 1,734 in 2012.

Charbonnet is joined by a laundry list of college football's biggest stars on the list of Maxwell Award semifinalists, but he was one of only seven running backs to make the cut. Alabama's Jahmr Gibbs, Illinois' Chase Brown, Michigan's Blake Corum, Pittsburgh's Israel Abanikanda, Texas' Bijan Robinson and UAB's DeWayne McBride were the others.

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Maxwell Award last year, and he is a semifinalist again in 2022.

The last time a Bruin won the Maxwell Award was when Gary Beban secured it back in 1967, the same season he took home the Heisman Trophy.