UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State junior tailback Silas Redd was selected a preseason candidate for his second national player of the year award on Friday.

A 2011 All-Big Ten selection, Redd has been named to the watch list for the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year. Also a candidate for the Maxwell Award, Redd was selected the 2011 Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year.

The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is the nation’s fourth-oldest individual college football accolade. Penn State All-America running backs John Cappelletti (1973) and Larry Johnson (2002) are previous recipients of the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.

Redd ran for 1,241 yards in 2011, the 10th-highest season total in Penn State history, en route to second-team All-Big Ten honors. He became the 12th different Penn State player to post 1,000 yards rushing in a season (20 times overall) and gave the Nittany Lions a 1,000-yard rusher for the seventh consecutive season. Redd averaged 5.2 yards on his 321 attempts and scored seven rushing touchdowns, with a long carry of 42 yards.

Redd led all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players with 703 rushing yards last October, including five consecutive 100-yard games.

 The Walter Camp watch list will be narrowed to 10 semifinalists in mid-November.

Women’s soccer

Cook named
associate head coach

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State women’s soccer coach Erica Walsh promoted Ann Cook to associate head coach on Thursday.

Cook has spent the past five years on the Penn State staff as an assistant coach.

Cook assumed the position on July 1 and enters her sixth season with the Nittany Lions after helping guide them to a record 14th-straight Big Ten title.

Cook was previously an assistant coach at Nebraska for two seasons. She played collegiately with Walsh at William & Mary.