A trio of Penn State’s top defensive players are now officially in direct competition with each other for one of college football’s top individual honors this season. Linebacker [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag], and cornerback [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag] were each named to the watch list for this season’s Bronko Nagurski Award from the Football Writers Association of America. The award goes to the nation’s top defensive player as determined by the FWAA.
Penn State was one of six schools to land three players on the initial watch list for the award. Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, and Ohio State were the others. The Big Ten and SEC each had 15 players on the watch list, which was tied for the most by any conference.
The Bronko Nagurski Award has been presented every year since 1993 by the Charlotte Touchdown Club, with Arizona defensive tackle Rob Waldrop receiving the inaugural award. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Penn State has never had a Bronko Nagurski Award winner despite having some top-tier defensive talent over the years.
Last year’s Bronko Nagurski Award winner was Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. It was the second year in a row Anderson claimed the award. He joined Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern as the only two-time and back-to-back winner of the award. Fitzgerald won the award in 1995 and again in 1996 as a linebacker for the Wildcats.
The last Big Ten player to win the Bronko Nagurski Award was Ohio State defensive end Chase Young in 2019. The only other winners of the award from the Big Ten other than Young and Fitzgerald have been Charles Woodson (Michigan, 1997) and James Laurinaitis (Ohio State, 2006).
Finalists for this year’s award will be announced on November 15 and the winner will be announced on December 4 at a banquet in Charlotte, NC.
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