Josh Allen wins Bednarik Award for Top Defensive Player

Make some room in the trophy case. Josh Allen was just named the winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the best defensive player in college football. The other finalists were Quinnen Williams (Alabama) and Christian Wilkins (Clemson).

This is the second national defensive player of the year award for Allen, who accepted the Bronko Nagurski Trophy earlier this week. He was also up for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker, but the honor went to LSU’s Devin White instead.

A rundown of Josh’s stats:

• 28.5 career sacks (Kentucky record)
• 14 sacks this season (Kentucky record)
• 11 career forced fumbles (Ties Danny Trevathan for UK record)
• Leads the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss (18.5) and forced fumbles (5)
• Team-high 84 tackles

…and his growing list of accolades:

• Chuck Bednarik Award (Defensive Player of the Year)
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy (National Defensive Player of the Year)
• SEC Defensive Player of the Year (AP, Coaches)
• First Team All-SEC (AP, Coaches)
• First Team All-American (Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Pro Football Focus)
• Finalist for the Walter Camp National Player of the Year, the Butkus Award (nation’s best linebacker), the Lott IMPACT Trophy (defensive player of the year) and Ted Hendricks Award (defensive end of the year).

If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend reading the profile of Josh by NFL.com’s Chase Goodbread we shared earlier today. It does the best job yet of detailing his journey from a special needs student to an undersized wide receiver to an underrated linebacker to a father, and now, award winner. Soon, he’ll be able to add draft pick to that list. I can’t think of a better representative for the University of Kentucky Football program.

Congrats, Josh.

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