RENO — As college football preseason watch lists begin to roll out, Nevada has its first honoree with junior defensive end Dom Peterson being named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list.
The award is presented annually to the nation’s top defensive player.
Peterson, who is one of five from around the Mountain West to earn a spot on the watch list, was named first team All-MW for the first time in his career after proving to be the Wolf Pack’s most dominant defensive lineman last season. The then-sophomore ranked second in the conference and led Nevada with 15.0 tackles for loss, 14 of them being solo. Peterson also led the team and ranked second in the MW with nine sacks. He recorded at least one tackle for loss in all but one game in 2019 and had his best performance of the year in a 21-10 win over New Mexico, where he recorded four solo tackles, three for loss and two sacks. He was also named to the preseason All-MW first team by Athlon Sports last month.
The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995 and is named in honor of Chuck Bednarik, a former standout at the University of Pennsylvania and with the Philadelphia Eagles. Bednarik is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of ‘69 and the NFL Hall of Fame’s Class of ‘67. The Bednarik Award watch list will once again incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and conferences from coast to coast, and will feature fresh faces, as 2019 winner Chase Young (Ohio State) and finalists Derrick Brown (Auburn) and Isaiah Simmons (Clemson) have all moved on to the NFL. The list features three returning semifinalists from 2019 including Derek Stingley (LSU), Micah Parsons (Penn State) and Marvin Wilson (Florida State). LSU, Pittsburgh and USC lead the way with three candidates each and 17 other schools boast two candidates.
Semifinalists for the Bednarik Award will be announced Nov. 3, while the three finalists for the Bednarik Award will be unveiled Nov. 23. The winner of the 2020 Bednarik Awards will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 10. The formal presentations of these awards will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Tropicana Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on March 12, 2021.
