By GRANT TRTAYLOR

Marshall Associate A.D. of Strategic Communications

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall junior running back Rasheen Ali and sophomore linebacker Stephen Dix, Jr. were named to the Comeback Player of the Year Watch List on Wednesday.

The updated “Watch List” was released in association with the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), The Associated Press (AP) and the Fiesta Bowl Organization.

Ali and Dix, Jr., are two of the 49 student-athletes who are currently under consideration for the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award. Those 49 athletes represent 42 different schools.

Ali has returned to the forefront of Marshall’s rushing attack after missing 10 of the team’s 13 games last season due to an injury sustained just before camp.

The junior from Cleveland, Ohio, has returned to the form that made him a 2021 FWAA Freshman All-American selection. Ali started the year as the only player in FBS to record multiple touchdowns in each of his team’s first four games.

Ali currently sits in 2^nd in FBS in rushing touchdowns with nine.

On the other side of the ball, Dix transferred to Marshall from Florida State after missing the entire 2022 season due to injury. Dix appeared in 12 games in 2021 and also played in nine games in 2020 with five of those being starts as a true freshman.

Currently, Dix has 17 tackles and a tackle for loss in five games for the Thundering Herd.

Marshall was one of seven schools to have multiple selections and Ali and Dix represent two of four selections from the Sun Belt Conference. Others representing the SBC included Coastal Carolina running back Braydon Bennett and Arkansas State wide receiver Corey Rucker.

Since 2018, the award has recognized college football student-athletes from all divisions of college football for overcoming injury, illness or other circumstances. At the end of each season, a vote by a panel of college football writers, editors and sports information directors will determine the three recipients of the Comeback Player of the Year Award, which is honored at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.