Georgia football: Deandre Baker named on Bednarik Award watch list
Georgia football’s senior cornerback Deandre Baker is on the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award.
The Maxwell Football Club recently announced the watch list for the 24th annual Chuck Bednarik Award. The list only includes one Georgia football player; cornerback Deandre Baker. The senior corner enters his third year as a starter.
In 24 career games, Baker has 76 tackles and five interceptions. But there isn’t a stat for his best trait. He plays very physical and most receivers can’t beat him. That makes him a true shutdown corner. Quarterbacks aren’t going to throw his way very often. An entire part of the field is off-limits in the passing game when Baker is playing.
Only one Georgia Bulldog has won the Bednarik Award before and that was David Pollack in 2004. The Maxwell Club named Roquan Smith a finalist for the last season, but he lost to Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick. Since Pollack’s 2004 award, three SEC defenders have won the Bednarik Award.
The award
The Chuck Bednarik Award is one of the most prestigious awards in all of college football, and the second biggest award given out by the Maxwell Football Club. The Club explains it’s importance in their description:
"The College Defensive Player of the Year Award is named in honor of Chuck Bednarik, College and Pro Football Hall of Famer. Voters for the Maxwell College Awards are NCAA Head College Football Coaches, members of the Maxwell Football Club & sportswriters and sportscasters from across the country"
It is surprising that Baker is the only Bulldog on that list. There are a few other’s that the Maxwell Club probably should include that they’ll likely add as the season goes on. D’Andre Walker is the first to come to mind because of what he accomplished as a backup in 2017. He was second on the team with 5.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for a loss.
Another player that is good enough for the watch list is Jonathan Ledbetter. He had 2.5 sacks last year as a 3-4 defensive end on a defensive line that rotated guys a lot. He also had 5.5 tackles for a loss and 38 tackles overall. He’s one of the more vocal leaders on the defense as well.
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The last player that comes to mind is Monty Rice based on some of the hype the coaches gave him in the spring, mixed with how down on himself he was after the G-Day Game. That was impressive to see him say he had a lot to improve on while Kirby Smart of all people heaped praise on him.