Rutgers football: National recognition coming in for Olakunle Fatukasi

Rutgers football’s Olakunle Fatukasi gets big weekly honor from the Maxwell Football Club.

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It has certainly been a whirlwind of a few days for Rutgers football. The latest bit of buzz is about Olakunle Fatukasi, who was named the Bednarik Award Player of the Week.

This comes after Rutgers received votes in β€˜The Week 1 AFCA USA TODAY Coaches Poll‘ as well as coming in No. 24 in the first regular season poll from FoxSports.com.

The nod for Fatukasi comes after a tremendous performance from the Scarlet Knights linebacker. He had nine tackles including four tackles for a loss and three sacks as Rutgers beat Temple 61-14 on Saturday.

Fatukasi got the scoring started early as he registered a safety on Temple quarterback D’Wan Mathis on Temple’s opening possession.

 

In preseason, Fatukasi was named to the β€˜Bednarik Award Watch List.’ The award, given out by the Maxwell Football Club, is in recognition for the nation’s top defensive player. It is considered the top defensive award for a college football player.

Last year, Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins won the award. The last five recipients of the award have all been first round picks in the NFL Draft.

The Maxwell Football Club also awards the Maxwell Award, given to the nation’s top college football player.

 

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