College football preseason awards watch lists are, at best, little more than a summertime curiosity these days and, at worst, an easy punchline.

For one, there are far too many awards -- only country music likes to give itself as many trophies as this sport. There are often way too many players on these lists -- the Rimington Trophy list, for example, includes 64 players, or basically half the starting centers in the FBS, and 10 from the Big Ten alone. And, of course, eventual winners of these awards sometimes come out of nowhere, making the preseason lists even more meaningless.

We relegated almost all the watch list releases to tweets, but if you're interested, we thought we'd compile all the Big Ten players who were nominated in one place. If nothing else, you can come back to this page in December and perhaps have a good chuckle. Here you go:

Maxwell Award (Player of the Year)

• Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska

• Connor Cook, QB, Michigan State

• Stefon Diggs, WR, Maryland

• Devin Funchess, WR, Michigan

• Devin Gardner, QB, Michigan

• Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin

• Christian Hackenberg, QB, Penn State

• Jeremy Langford, RB, Michigan State

• Venric Mark, RB, Northwestern

• Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State

Walter Camp (Player of the Year)

• Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska

• Chi Chi Ariguzo, LB, Northwestern

• Shilique Calhoun, DE Michigan State

• Stefon Diggs,WR, Maryland

• Devin Funchess, WR, Michigan

• Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin

• Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska

• Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State

Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)

• Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio State

• Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State

• Shilique Calhoun, DE, Michigan State

• Frank Clark, DE, Michigan

• Carl Davis, DT, Iowa

• Kurtis Drummond, S, Michigan State

• Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska

• Jordan Lucas, CB, Penn State

• Jake Ryan, LB, Michigan

• Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State

Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player)

• Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio State

• Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State

• Shilique Calhoun, DE, Michigan State

• Frank Clark, DE, Michigan

• Blake Countess, DB, Michigan

• Carl Davis, DT, Iowa

• Kurtis Drummond, S, Michigan State

• Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska

• Jake Ryan, LB, Michigan

• Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State

Outland Trophy (Interior lineman)

• Jack Allen, C, Michigan State

• Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio State

• Jack Conklin, T, Michigan State

• Carl Davis, DT, Iowa

• Rob Havenstein, T, Wisconsin

• Kaleb Johnson, G, Rutgers

• Brandon Scherff, T, Iowa

• Donovan Smith, DT, Penn State

• Brandon Vitabile, C, Northwestern

Davey O’Brien Award (Quarterback):

• Connor Cook, Michigan State

• Devin Gardner, Michigan

• Christian Hackenberg, Penn State

• Braxton Miller, Ohio State

• Joel Stave, Wisconsin

Doak Walker Award (Running back)

• Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska

• Bill Belton, Penn State

• David Cobb, Minnesota

• Tevin Coleman, Indiana

• Josh Ferguson, Illinois

• Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin

• Jeremy Langford, Michigan State

• Zach Zwinak, Penn State

Butkus Award (Linebacker)

• Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil, Maryland

• Curtis Grant, Ohio State

• Mike Hull, Penn State

• Taiwan Jones, Michigan State

• Mason Monheim, Illinois

• Jake Ryan, Michigan

Rotary Lombardi Award (Lineman/Linebacker)

• Chi Chi Ariguzo, LB, Northwestern

• Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio State

• Austin Blythe, C, Iowa

• Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State

• Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State

• Carl Davis, DT, Iowa

• Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska

• Ron Havenstein, T, Wisconsin

• Kaleb Johnson, G, Rutgers

• Jake Ryan, LB, Michigan

• Brandon Scherff, T, Iowa

Biletnikoff Award (Wide receiver)

• Kenny Bell, Nebraska

• Stefon Diggs, Maryland

• Devin Funchess, Michigan

• Christian Jones, Northwestern

• Devin Smith, Ohio State

• Shane Wynn, Indiana

Jim Thorpe Award (Defensive back)

• Ibraheim Campbell, Northwestern

• Blake Countess, Michigan

• Kurtis Drummond, Michigan State

• Jordan Lucas, Penn State

• Trae Waynes, Michigan State

Mackey Award (Tight end)

• Kyle Carter, Penn State

• Jeff Heuerman, Ohio State

• Jesse James, Penn State

• Tyler Kroft, Rutgers

• Maxx Williams, Minnesota

Rimington Trophy (Center)

• Jack Allen, Michigan State

• Austin Blythe, Iowa

• Betim Bujari, Rutgers

• Sal Conaboy, Maryland

• Robert Kugler, Purdue

• Tommy Olson, Minnesota

• Mark Pelini, Nebraska

• Collin Rahrig, Indiana

• Brandon Vitabile, Northwestern

• Dan Voltz, Wisconsin

Lou Groza Award (Kicker)

• Brad Craddock, Maryland

• Michael Geiger, Michigan State

Ray Guy Award (Punter)

• Cameron Johnston, Ohio State

• Peter Mortell, Minnesota

• Mike Sadler, Michigan State

Finally, watch this list of my preseason awards watch list, uh, awards:

Most nominated: Thanks to his inclusion on multiple defensive award lists as well as one player of the year recognition, Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory leads the way with four nods.

Biggest "snubs:" We use the word "snub" very, very lightly here. Still, it was a mild surprise not to see Venric Mark on the Doak Walker list (he was, after all, nominated for the Maxwell) or for Maryland defensive lineman Andre Monroe to not show up anywhere. Apparently, Monroe's 9.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss last year weren't good enough to get him on the same list as dozens of other less productive players.

Weirdest list: The Butkus Award folks, bless them, either know something we don't or really swung and missed this year. Neither Maryland's Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil nor Ohio State's Curtis Grant were on anybody's radar for a major award, and you could make a very strong argument that neither is even the best linebacker on his own team (the Terps' Matt Robinson and the Buckeyes' Joshua Perry would have made more sense here). And then there's the omission of Rutgers' Steve Longa, who had 123 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. Just plain odd all around.

Just happy to be nominated: Northwestern's Chi Chi Ariguzo and Michigan's Devin Funchess are both outstanding players who should be in strong contention for all-conference and quite possibly All-America honors this season. But they have about as good a chance of winning a national player of the year award (which almost always goes to quarterbacks or running backs, anyway) as I do. Funchess was nominated for both the Maxwell and Walter Camp award, which means he has a great public relations man. Meanwhile, Wisconsin's Joel Stave isn't even guaranteed to start at quarterback this season for the Badgers, yet he found himself on the Davey O'Brien watch list. As usual, it doesn't hurt to cover all the bases when compiling a preseason watch list.