Illinois tailback Ca'Lil Valentine was one of 62 players named to the watch list for the best running back in college football.

CHAMPAIGN — The leading rusher for Illinois last season will open this campaign on a national watch list with some of the nation’s best running backs.

Ca'Lil Valentine was named to the preseason watch list for the 2026 Doak Walker Award, released Tuesday by the PwC Southern Methodist University Athletic Forum.

Valentine, a third-year player originally from Hayward, Calif., was one of 62 total players on the list and the former three-star signee from Chandler (Ariz.) High School was one of 12 running backs from the Big Ten Conference to be selected to the list.

Valentine, a 5-foot-11 and 205-pounder, had six starts last season that included 614 rushing yards and four touchdowns to go along with 10 receptions for 55 yards. In his second college season of at least moderate playing time in 2025, Valentine finished 17th in the Big Ten in yards per carry (4.46) during the regular season and completed the campaign with 65 yards on just eight attempts in the Music City Bowl win over Tennessee.

Valentine is one of the few returning starters in 2026 for an Illini offense that finished just 13th in an 18-team Big Ten Conference in rushing offense but returns each of its top two rushers (Valentine and four-year tailback Aidan Laughery) from the past season.

With Kaden Feagin’s move from tailback to tight end this offseason, more carries are expected from Valentine in 2026 for a running back who has only had 15 or more carries in a game twice in his collegiate career. Valentine averaged just over 10 carries per game in 2025 but all he needed was seven more attempts per game last season to be just the third Illinois player since 2011 to top 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.

Chase Brown, who is entering his fourth season in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals, is the only Doak Walker Award finalist in Illinois program history, achieving the honor during his standout 2022 season. Brown finished second nationally with 1,643 rushing yards before being selected by the Bengals in the fifth round, 163rd overall pick, of the 2023 NFL draft.