Volunteers Derek Barnett, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Cam Sutton all represent Tennessee Football as defenders on the 2016 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List.
The Tennessee Volunteers just keep piling up on individual players receiving preseason recognition.
Junior defensive end Derek Barnett, senior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and senior cornerback Cam Sutton were all named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List, which has been awarded annually to the nation’s top defensive player since 1993.
All-SEC end Barnett made the list for his second year in a row, while Sutton and Reeves-Maybin are expected to be consistent leaders for the Vols on that side of the ball throughout the year after both players decided to skip the NFL Draft and come back for their senior seasons.
Barnett, Reeves-Maybin, and Sutton are three of 88 players who are on the list.
They join Joshua Dobbs, Jalen Hurd, Coleman Thomas, Ethan Wolf, and Trevor Daniel as Vols who have made it onto preseason award watch lists.
And, true to form, the SEC dominates every other conference with 27 players on the Nagurski Watch List. The closest conference after that are the Big Ten and Pac-12, tied apiece with 13 players.
No Vol has ever won the Nagurski Trophy, but this seems like a year meant for somebody from Knoxville to take it home. The Vols are expected to have a loaded defense already, and former Tennessee Football offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe is set to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Bronko Nagurski Trophy Banquet on Dec. 5.
Isn’t that just an omen?
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Possibly, but an SEC Championship would obviously be better than any award for the fans in Knoxville.