Alabama Football: Minkah Fitzpatrick on eight preseason awards lists

Alabama football has one of the best football players in the nation. Minkah Fitzpatrick is already on eight preseason college football awards lists.

The tweet below is pretty accurate. For Alabama football, Minhah is close to being a positionless player.

The rising junior has already started at three defensive positions in his two-year Alabama football career. With his athleticism and high football IQ, he could play others as well.

Fitzpatrick’s versatility comes as no surprise to Minkah’s New Jersey fans. New Jersey sports reporter Braulio Perez wrote that Minhah’s high school career was filled with so many superlatives, fans called it,

"Minkah being Minkah. That was a phrase you’d hear all over New Jersey in 2014 when St. Peter’s Prep senior Minkah Fitzpatrick would make one of his eye-opening plays."

Minkah played both ways in high school and excelled on both sides of the ball. On offense, now Notre Dame quarterback, Brandon Wimbush connected with Minkah on 45 passes for 1,111 yards and 12 touchdowns. Known as a head-hunter on defense, in 2014 Minkah made 70 tackles and three interceptions.

Minkah has set Alabama records in only two seasons

What Fitzpatrick has done at Alabama has been phenomenal. Minkah has already set an Alabama football record with four ‘pick-six’ interception touchdowns. Minkah was a first-team All-American last season. In 2017, he will provide leadership, not just for the secondary but for the entire defense. The video below highlights Minkah’s 2016 season.

Absent injury, Minkah will be a NFL first-round draft pick in 2018. Along the way, he could earn a bunch of college football awards. So far Minkah is on the watch lists for eight awards: Bednarik; Maxwell; Nagurski; Thorpe, Hornung; Lott; Weurffel and the AFCA Good Works team.

The only other player in college football also on eight awards lists is Christian Wilkins of Clemson. Still to be announced are the Davey O’Brien, Doak Walker and Walter Camp awards watch lists. Unless Minkah adds quarterback and running back to his Alabama football duties, he will not be an O’Brien or Walker candidate.

Minkah could become the third ever, defensive player to win the Walter Camp Award

Minkah should make the Walker Camp award watch list to be announced on July 21. The Camp award is given to the nation’s Most Outstanding Player. Defensive players have only been chosen for the Camp Award twice in its history going back to 1967.

Minkah is a better football player than the last defensive player to win the Camp Award. That player was Manti Te’o in 2012. The Camp Award is presented each season in December. Te’o was lucky to get the honor before Alabama football ran over, around and past the Notre Dame defense in the 2012 national championship game.

Next: Relive the Tide's domination of Te'o and Notre Dame!

Minkah made the Walter Camp All-American first team last season. He clearly deserves to be named to the 2017 Camp Award watch list. Frankly, Christian Wilkins deserves to make the watch list as well.