Staff Report

 

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall’s Aaron Dobson has been selected to the 2012 College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) Wide Receiver Watch List.

This is the second preseason honor for Dobson, as Blue Ribbon announced that he was a first-team preseason All-Conference USA pick in late June. He becomes the second student-athlete recognized by the CFPA after punt returner Andre Booker made the Special Teams List last month.

Dobson, a senior from Dunbar who tied for second in the league with 12 touchdown catches last season, had 49 receptions for 668 yards in 2011 and was named the Most Valuable Player in the Herd’s 20-10 victory over FIU in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

During that contest, the 6-foot-3 Dobson hauled in two touchdown passes of 30-plus yards from quarterback Rakeem Cato, including a game-clinching 35-yarder with just 30 seconds remaining.

He also had breakout performances in a win over eventual C-USA champion Southern Miss (7 catches, 69 yards, 2 TD), a two-TD showing in a loss at Houston and a masterful game in a bowl bid-clinching, 34-27 overtime win against East Carolina.

On that day, Dobson dazzled fans with a four-catch, 110-yard performance that saw him race to the end zone with a 77-yard scoring pass on the game’s first play from scrimmage and a leaping, backhanded 13-yard TD grab just before halftime that became a viral social media sensation almost immediately.

Marshall opens its 2012 season at West Virginia on Sept. 1.