As a member of the Football Writers Association of America, College Football America staff members Chuck Cox, Matthew Postins and Kendall Webb are proud to be a part of the panel that will select the 2014 Nagurski Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player in college football. Each week the FWAA will award the Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week. The College Football America 2014 Yearbook Encyclopedia featured some of the Nagurski Watch List members earlier this football season. The book is available on iTunes for just $9.99. Get a copy today. It’s the most comprehensive College Football book of its kind.
DALLAS (FWAA) – UCLA inside linebacker Eric Kendricks has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week for the opening weekend games of the 2014 season.
Kendricks, a 6-0, 230-pound senior from Fresno, Calif., registered a game-high 16 tackles in UCLA’s 28-20 victory at Virginia. In the second quarter, he intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown – one of three defensive touchdowns scored by the Bruins – and also forced a fumble which led to a return for a touchdown. In the second half, two of his stops came on Virginia third-down plays.
Each Tuesday during the 2014 season the FWAA All-America Committee will select a National Defensive Player of the Week from nominations made by the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and major independents. The FWAA has sponsored a National Defensive Player of the Year award since 1993 and has named a National Defensive Player of the Week since the 2001 season.
Five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be announced by the FWAA on Nov. 20. The winner of the FWAA’s National Defensive Player of the Year award will be revealed on Dec. 8 during a banquet sposnored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is given in memory of the legendary All-American lineman at Minnesota (1927-29). Nagurski dominated college football at Minnesota as a bruising fullback and defensive tackle and could have been an All-America at any position. He then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast nearly 700 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,400 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com or 214-870-6516.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization founded in 1991 with the goal of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, North Carolina region. The Club’s activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding Citizenship, Scholarship, Sportsmanship, and Leadership of area athletes and coaches.
2014 Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week
• Aug. 30: Eric Kendricks, UCLA
