Annual award recognizes nation’s top defensive player
PROVO, Utah — The Maxwell Football Club today named BYU All-American linebacker Kyle Van Noy to its watch list for the 19th annual Bednarik Award, which recognizes college football’s top defensive player.
The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995. Chuck Bednarik, former standout at Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles, 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.
Van Noy is among 75 players named to the 2013 Bednarik Award watch list. Van Noy earned All-America honors in 2012 as a junior while finishing tied for second nationally with 13 sacks and six forced fumbles and ranking No. 4 in the nation with 22 tackles for loss. He is the only player in each of the past two seasons to record a stat in every major defensive category and has helped BYU achieve bowl wins each of his three seasons in Provo.
Semifinalists for Bednarik Award will be announced Oct. 29, while the three finalists will be unveiled Nov. 25th. The winners of the 2013 Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show held in Dec. 12th. The formal presentation will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Harrah's Entertainment Atlantic City on March 7, 2014.
The watch list candidates have been chosen by the Maxwell Football Club's selection committee, which analyzes both past performance and future potential. The Club reserves the right to make additions and deletions to these lists as the 2013 season unfolds. All members of the Maxwell Football Club, NCAA sports information directors, FBS head coaches and selected national media are eligible to vote for the awards.
BYU opens the 2013 season at Virginia on Aug. 31 in a 3:30 p.m. ET kick televised on ESPNU.