Jaylan Ford, Kelvin Banks Jr. earn spots on preseason football watch lists for Texas
It’s been almost two decades since Derrick Johnson won Texas’ lone Bronco Nagurski Award honoring the nation’s top defensive college football player. Fellow linebacker Jaylan Ford may get a chance to join Johnson on that elite list.
Ford, a senior returning All-American for the Longhorns, was one of 94 players selected to the Nagurski Trophy Watch List on Tuesday by the Football Writers Association of America. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2023 trophy on Nov. 15 and the winner will be unveiled Dec. 4 at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet in Charlotte, N.C.
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The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Ford racked up 119 tackles and picked off four passes a year ago while keying a defensive turnaround for the Longhorns, who improved from No. 99 in the nation in points allowed in 2021 to No. 27 last season. That performance earned him a third-team All-American nod from The Associated Press, and he is the media's selection as the Big 12’s preseason defensive player of the year.
Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. As in previous years, the FWAA will announce a National Defensive Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week’s honored player will be added at that time.
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. The winner will be chosen from the five finalists named in November. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.
The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993.
Banks earns spot on Outland Trophy Watch List
The FWAA also selected Texas sophomore left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. to its Outland Trophy Watch List, which recognizes the nation’s top lineman on either side of the ball. The list includes 91 players.
The 6-4, 320-pound Banks, a FWAA freshman All-American last season, started all 13 games a year ago for Texas and leads a veteran group ranked as one of the top lines in the nation.
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The recipient of the 2023 Outland Trophy will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN in December. The official presentation to the winner will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner in Omaha, Neb., in January.
Banks hopes to become the fourth Longhorn to win the award, which has been handed out since 1946. Brad Shearer (1977), Tommy Nobis (1965) and Scott Appleton (1963) have won the Outland Trophy while playing at Texas.
Earlier this summer, quarterback Quinn Ewers and receiver Xavier Worthy earned spots on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which recognizes the nation’s top player.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Football watch lists include Longhorns Jaylan Ford, Kelvin Banks Jr.
