Northwestern University Athletics
Igwebuike Among Nation's Best Defenders on Nagurski Trophy Watch List
7/13/2017 9:31:00 AM | Football
Igwebuike was named to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award earlier this week. The senior has started the last 26 games at safety and will enter 2017 as the leader of the Wildcats' defense. He led Chicago's Big Ten Team with 108 tackles, including 78 solo stops, last season, while ranking ninth in the country with 6.0 solo tackles per game. He is second among active FBS defensive backs with 163 career solo tackles. A native of Pickerington, Ohio, Igwebuike was voted Second-Team All-Big Ten by the conference's coaches last season.
A the list boasts 103 defensive standouts from all 10 Division I FBS conference, including 16 from the Big Ten. Igwebuike is among 19 defensive backs named to the initial list.
NORTHWESTERN WATCH LIST TRACKER
Senior safety Godwin Igwebuike — Bednarik Trophy, Nagurski Award
Senior running back Justin Jackson — Maxwell Award
Senior center Brad North — Rimington Trophy
Junior quarterback Clayton Thorson — Maxwell Award
Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. As in previous seasons, the FWAA will announce a National Defensive Player of the Week each Tuesday throughout the season. If not already on the watch list, each week's honored player will be added at that time. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce five finalists for the 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Thurs., Nov. 16.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will be chosen from those five finalists. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association's full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Nagurski Trophy finalists. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.
The annual Bronko Nagurski Trophy Banquet, presented by ACN, will be held on Mon., Dec. 4 at the Charlotte Convention Center. In addition to the 2017 Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner's announcement, the banquet will also celebrate the recipient of the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, sponsored by the CTC and Florida East Coast Railway. Notre Dame's Ross Browner, a member of the FWAA's 1976 and 1977 All-America Teams, the 1976 Outland Trophy winner and a College Football Hall of Famer, will be honored. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart will be the keynote speaker at the banquet.
The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw "Bronko" Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football's most prestigious awards. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 23 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.
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