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Five Candidates From Florida Schools Nominated For Thorpe Award

The latest watch list prior to the 2012 college football season has been released and it's for the Jim Thorpe Award to recognize the nation's top defensive back. Among the nominees are five different players from four colleges in Florida including two Florida State Seminoles.

Lamarcus Joyner and Xavier Rhodes represent the Seminoles on the list while Matt Elam is the sole Florida Gators representative on the list. Rounding out the list for the Florida universities is Kemal Ishmael from UCF and Jonathan Cyprien of Florida International.

Lawrence Wright of the Florida Gators won the award in 1996, but no player from the state has won since. Louisiana State has won the award in two consecutive seasons and has two players on the 2012 watch list.

For more on the Florida Gators, be sure to check out Alligator Army and Team Speed Kills. For more on the Miami Hurricanes, check out The 7th Floor. For more Florida State coverage, visit Tomahawk Nation. For more coverage and comment from around the country, visit SB Nation's college football hub.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.