June 12, 2007

University of South Carolina senior linebacker Jasper Brinkley is one of 49 players named to the 2007 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List, it was announced today by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). The Nagurski Trophy is awarded to the best defensive player in college football and is sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

Brinkley, an all-conference and all-America candidate, earned first team All-SEC honors by the Associated Press in 2006 after logging a team-leading 107 tackles. He leads all returning SEC players with 85 solo tackles in 2006, the second-highest total in school history.

The FWAA All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski winner from the association’s 11-man All-America defensive team in November. The watch list was developed by the FWAA All-America committee with the help of the schools and conferences.

The Charlotte Touchdown Club will hold the 2007 banquet on Monday, Dec. 3, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis won the 2006 Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

For the seventh straight season, the FWAA will also select a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week beginning with games on Sept. 1 through mid-November.

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is awarded in memory of the legendary Nagurski, a former All-America lineman at Minnesota in 1927-29 and a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s.