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Newsstand: Three Notre Dame players selected to Bednarik Award watch list

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•08/13/24•

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Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison. (Photo by Chad Weaver)

There are many ways to tell as a college football season that you’re in the thick of August. And one good one is that you see a new watch list for a major award being announced just about every day.

The Bednarik Award, which is presented to the best college football player and voted on by NCAA head college football coaches, members of the Maxwell Football Club, and sportswriters and sportscasters from across the country, announced its watch list on Monday.

A trio of Fighting Irish players were selected to the list — defensive lineman Howard Cross III, cornerback Benjamin Morrison and safety Xavier Watts. This should come as little surprise.

Notre Dame has one player who has won the award in the past — linebacker Manti Te’o in 2012.

Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player in 2023, intercepting 7 passes in his first full season as a starter. Cross was in the top five of all FBS defensive linemen with his 66 total tackles last year. Morrison a freshman All-American in 2022 and led Notre Dame with 10 passes broken up last year.

The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1994 and is named in honor of Chuck “Concrete Charlie” Bednarik, who was an All-American player at the University of Pennsylvania and later a multiple year All Pro linebacker and center for the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame and was the last NFL player to be a full-time player on both offense and defense.

Semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced November 12, 2024. The winners of the 30th Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 12, 2024. The formal presentations of the Chuck Bednarik Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on Friday March 14, 2025 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia.

Notre Dame Tweets of the day

Quote of the day

“A year ago, this was the time I was committing, and I can’t believe it’s been a year already. And I’m still excited about it. I’m fired up to be a part of the class.”

— Fighting Irish running back commit Justin Thurman

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