Georgia Football: Two Dawgs On Bednarick Watch List For Top Defender
The Georgia football linebacking corps is the strength of the 2015 Dawg defense and two Dawg linebackers made the watch list for the Bednarick Award,
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Georgia football’s dynamic linebacker duo of senior Jordan Jenkins and junior Leonard Floyd are on the Bednarik Award watch list. The award honors the college defensive player of the year.
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Jenkins, a 6-3, 253 pound outside linebacker and native of Hamilton, Ga., is the Bulldogs’ top returning tackler, claiming 70 stops in 2014. He finished with 9.5 tackles for loss and five sacks and a team-high 24 quarterback pressures. Jenkins also forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles last season.
Floyd led the Dawgs with six sacks last year and was fifth on the team with 55 tackles. The 6-4, 231 pound Eastman, Ga native lined up primarily at outside linebacker. Floyd had 8.5 tackles for loss, 17 pressures and three forced fumbles in his second season with the Bulldogs.
David Pollack is the only Bulldog to win the Bednarik Award, earning the honor in 2004.
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The favorite to claim the award is Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III. Wright won the Bednarik Award last year. He made 163 tackles, 29 for a loss as the 2014 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. If the Wildcats star produces as he did last season, he will remain the front-runner for the award.
The likely top competitors to unseat Wright as the top defender in the nation are last year’s Bednarik semi-finalists, Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, Michigan State defensive end Shilique Calhoun, Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman and Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith.
Semifinalists are announced on November 23, and the winner is named December 10. Eighteen of the 80 players making the watch list are from the Southeastern Conference.
2015 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list
Mackensie Alexander, CB, Clemson
Kevin Anderson, LB, Stanford
Budda Baker, S, Washington
Dante Barnett, S, Kansas State
Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee
Kendell Beckwith, LB, LSU
Vince Biegel, LB, Wisconsin
Zeek Bigger, LB, East Carolina
Andrew Billings, NT, Baylor
Quin Blanding, S, Virginia
Briean Boddy-Calhoun, CB, Minnesota
Joey Bosa, DE, Ohio State
Kentrell Brothers, LB, Missouri
Kelby Brown, LB, Duke
DeForest Buckner, DE, Oregon
Shilique Calhoun, DE, Michigan State
Michael Caputo, S, Wisconsin
Lloyd Carrington, CB, Arizona State
Jeremy Cash, S, Duke
Brandon Chubb, LB, Wake Forest
Kenny Clark, DT, UCLA
Maliek Collins, DT, Nebraska
Kamalei Correa, DE, Boise State
Su’a Cravens, LB, USC
Ed Davis, LB, Michigan State
Sheldon Day, DT, Notre Dame
Kyler Fackrell, LB, Utah State
Leonard Floyd, LB, Georgia
Josh Forrest, LB, Kentucky
Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M
Adam Gotsis, DT, Georgia Tech
Darius Hamilton, DL, Rutgers
Vernon Hargreaves III, CB, Florida
Tylor Harris, DT, Wake Forest
Myles Jack, LB, UCLA
William Jackson, CB, Houston
Adoree’ Jackson, CB, USC
Jordan Jenkins, LB, Georgia
Chris Jones, DT, Mississippi State
Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia
Bronson Kaufusi, DE, BYU
Derrick Kindred, S, TCU
Shaq Lawson, DE, Clemson
William Likely, CB, Maryland
Curt Maggitt, LB, Tennessee
Blake Martinez, LB, Stanford
Tyler Matakevich, LB, Temple
Cassanova McKinzy, LB, Auburn
Jalen Mills, S, LSU
Antonio Morrison, LB, Florida
Eric Murray, CB, Minnesota
Dadi Nicolas, DE, Virginia Tech
Robert Nkemdiche, DT, Ole Miss
Jared Norris, LB, Utah
Shawn Oakman, DE, Baylor
Emmanuel Ogbah, DE, Oklahoma State
Will Parks, S, Arizona
Joshua Perry, LB, Ohio State
Davion Pierson, DT, TCU
Reggie Ragland, LB, Alabama
Jalen Ramsey, DB, Florida State
Sheldon Rankins, DE, Louisville
Will Redmond, CB, Mississippi State
Pete Robertson, LB, Texas Tech
A’Shawn Robinson, DL, Alabama
Mike Rose, DE, NC State
KeiVarae Russell, CB, Notre Dame
Zack Sanchez, CB, Oklahoma
Jovan Santos-Knox, LB, Massachusetts
Terrance Smith, LB, Florida State
Jaylon Smith, LB, Notre Dame
Eric Striker, LB, Oklahoma
Cameron Sutton, CB, Tennessee
Charles Tapper, DE, Oklahoma
Darian Thompson, S, Boise State
Jeremy Timpf, LB, Army
Nick Vigil, LB, Utah State
Anthony Zettel, DT, Penn State