BATON ROUGE – LSU football players Tyrann Mathieu, Barkevious Mingo, Sam Montgomery and Eric Reid were chosen to the 2012 Bronko Nagurski Watch List as announced by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the Charlotte Touchdown Club on Thursday.
The Nagurski Trophy is awarded annually to the nation’s best defensive player, and the 2012 watch list features 84 players, including a nation-leading 19 from the Southeastern Conference.
Mathieu, Mingo, Montgomery and Reid were also selected to the watch list for the Bednarik Award that goes to college football’s top defensive player.
A 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist, Mathieu heads into his junior season having created 14 turnovers in his career. His 11 forced fumbles rank seventh in NCAA history and are just three shy of the NCAA record.
Mingo and Montgomery represent one of the nation’s most ferocious tandems at defensive end. Montgomery has produced 19.5 tackles for a loss and 11 sacks in two seasons, while Mingo has racked up 20.5 tackles for a loss and 10.5 sacks.
Reid enters the 2012 season highly regarded as one of the nation’s best safeties, and he tied for the team lead in tackles with 76 a season ago.
Patrick Peterson and Morris Claiborne were finalists for the trophy in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and Glenn Dorsey won the award in 2007.
The Nagurski Trophy winner is chosen from five finalists who are part of the FWAA All-America Team as chosen by the FWAA All-America Committee. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce the five finalists for the award on Nov. 15. The winner will be announced at the annual Bronko Nagurski Trophy Awards Banquet on Dec. 3 in Charlotte.
2012 NCFAA Preseason Watch List Calendar
Monday, July 9 – Bednarik Award (CB Tyrann Mathieu, DE Sam Montgomery, DE Barkevious Mingo, S Eric Reid) | Details
Tuesday, July 10 – Rimington Trophy (C P.J. Lonergan) | Details
Tuesday, July 10 – Mackey Award (TE Chase Clement) | Details
Wednesday, July 11 – Lou Groza Award (PK Drew Alleman) | Details
Wednesday, July 11 – Ray Guy Award (P Brad Wing) | Details
Thursday, July 12 – Bronko Nagurski Trophy (CB Tyrann Mathieu, DE Sam Montgomery, DE Barkevious Mingo, S Eric Reid) | Details
Thursday, July 12 – Outland Trophy (OT Chris Faulk, OT Alex Hurst, DT Bennie Logan) | Details
Friday, July 13 – Jim Thorpe Award
Monday, July 16 – Butkus Award, Lombardi Award
Tuesday, July 17 – Biletnikoff Award
Wednesday, July 18 – Davey O’Brien Award
Thursday, July 19 – Doak Walker Award
Friday, July 20 – Walter Camp Award
2012 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List (84)
Pos., Name, School
CB, Johnny Adams, Michigan State
CB, Ricardo Allen, Purdue
CB, David Amerson, N.C. State
LB, Dion Bailey, USC
CB, Johnthan Banks, Mississippi State
LB, Chris Borland, Wisconsin
S, John Boyett, Oregon
LB, Travis Brown, Fresno State
LB, Jonathan Brown, Illinois
LB, Arthur Brown, Kansas State
CB, Brodrick Brown, Oklahoma State
DE, Michael Buchanan, Illinois
LB, Max Bullough, Michigan State
CB, Carrington Byndom, Texas
DE, Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina
LB, Jamie Collins, Southern Miss
S, Matt Elam, Florida
DT, Sharrif Floyd, Florida
CB, Kyle Fuller, Virginia Tech
DE, William Gholston, Michigan State
LB, Khaseem Greene, Rutgers
LB, Steve Greer, Virginia
DT, Johnathan Hankins, Ohio State
LB, Gerald Hodges, Penn State
S, Jarred Holley, Pittsburgh
CB, Demontre Hurst, Oklahoma
CB, Micah Hyde, Iowa
LB, Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky
DE, Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas
S, Tony Jefferson, Oklahoma
DE, Brandon Jenkins, Florida State
DT, John Jenkins, Georgia
LB, Nico Johnson, Alabama
DE, Travis Johnson, San Jose State
LB, Jarvis Jones, Georgia
DE, Dion Jordan, Oregon
S, Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State
LB, A.J. Klein, Iowa State
LB, Jake Knott, Iowa State
S, Jordan Kovacs, Michigan
DE, Corey Lemonier, Auburn
S, Robert Lester, Alabama
DE, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Notre Dame
DT, Rob Lohr, Vanderbilt
LB, Travis Long, Washington State
DT, Star Lotulelei, Utah
LB, Khalil Mack, Buffalo
LB, Trent Mackey, Tulane
CB, Nigel Malone, Kansas State
DE, Stansly Maponga, TCU
CB, Tyrann Mathieu, LSU
S, Dexter McCoil, Tulsa
S, T.J. McDonald, USC
CB, Leon McFadden, San Diego State
CB, Dee Milliner, Alabama
DE, Barkevious Mingo, LSU
DE, Sam Montgomery, LSU
LB, C.J. Mosley, Alabama
DT, Roosevelt Nix, Kent State
DE, Alex Okafor, Texas
LB, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Boston College
LB, Sean Porter, Texas A&M
CB, Jordan Poyer, Oregon State
LB, Kevin Reddick, North Carolina
S, Eric Reid, LSU
CB, Xavier Rhodes, Florida State
CB, Nickell Robey, USC
DT, Kawann Short, Purdue
DE, John Simon, Ohio State
LB, Shayne Skov, Stanford
S, Hakeem Smith, Louisville
DE, Devin Taylor, South Carolina
LB, Bruce Taylor, Virginia Tech
LB, Mike Taylor, Wisconsin
LB, Manti Te’o, Notre Dame
LB, Chase Thomas, Stanford
S, Kenny Vaccaro, Texas
LB, Kyle Van Noy, BYU
DT, Joe Vellano, Maryland
DE, Bjoern Werner, Florida State
DT, Jesse Williams, Alabama
DE, Trevardo Williams, Connecticut
LB, Dwayne Woods, Bowling Green
LB, Tom Wort, Oklahoma
By conference: SEC (19), Big Ten (14), Big 12 (13), ACC (11), Pac-12 (10), Big East (4), Conference USA (3), Independents (3), MAC (3), Mountain West (2), Sun Belt (1), WAC (1).