Wisconsin star safety named to 2024 Jim Thorpe Award watch list

Wisconsin star safety named to 2024 Jim Thorpe Award watch list

Wisconsin star safety Hunter Wohler was named to his second watch list on Wednesday, this for the 2024 Jim Thorpe Award.

Wohler is now on the watch list for this award, given to the nation’s best defensive back, and for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy given to the nation’s best overall defensive player.

Related: Everything to know about the Wisconsin Badgers quarterback room entering 2024 fall camp

Other notable nominees for the Jim Thorpe Award include Ohio State‘s Denzel Burke and Caleb Downs, Iowa‘s Sebastian Castro, Arizona’s Tacario Davis, Kentucky‘s Maxwell Hairston, Michigan‘s Will Johnson, Alabama‘s Malachi Moore, Notre Dame‘s Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts, Oregon‘s Jabbar Muhammad, Georgia‘s Malaki Starks and Purdue’s Dillon Thieneman. It’s a star-studded group of some of the nation’s top defenders.

Wohler enters 2024 after a breakout 120-tackle, 5.5 tackle-for-loss, 1.0-sack, 2-interception, 6 pass-deflection 2023 season that squarely put him on the map as one of the nation’s best defensive players, let alone just in the Big Ten.

He is expected to replicate that production this season as Wisconsin looks to make a significant jump in year two under head coach Luke Fickell.

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