DALLAS (FWAA) Northwestern outside linebacker Collin Ellis has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Aug. 31.
Ellis became the first Northwestern player to return two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game – a total of 96 yards. In Northwestern's 44-30 victory at California, he also registered four tackles, including one for lost yardage.
The 6-2, 230-pound junior from St. Gabriel, La., has been added to the 2013 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. Five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be announced by the Football Writers Association of America on Nov. 21. The winner will be revealed on Dec. 9 during a banquet that the Charlotte Touchdown Club sponsors at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Florida head coach Will Muschamp will be the keynote speaker at the banquet.
Each Tuesday during the 2013 season the FWAA All-America Committee will select a national defensive player of the week from nominations made by the 10 Division I Bowl Subdivision conferences and major independents.
The FWAA has sponsored a National Defensive Player of the Year award since 1993 and has named a National Defensive Player of the Week since the 2001 season. Last year, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o won the coveted Bronko Nagurski Trophy at season's end. In 2007, the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown club added the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, which is sponsored by Florida East Coast Railway. A top defensive player from a past FWAA All-America team is the annual recipient of that award. Former Georgia Tech great Randy Rhino is the winner of the 2013 award.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Assocation. The NCFAA encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.
The trophy is given in memory of the legendary All-American lineman at Minnesota (1927-29). Nagurski dominated college football at Minnesota as a bruising fullback and defensive tackle and could have been an All-America at any position. He then became a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, N.C., region. The club's activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding citizenship, scholarship, sportsmanship, and leadership of area athletes and coaches. For more information, contact John Rocco (704-347-2918 or jrocco@touchdownclub.com). The official website of the Charlotte Touchdown Club is www.touchdownclub.com.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization
founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,200 men and women who cover college football.
The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key
executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas
that include gameday operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For
more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson
at tiger@fwaa.com or 972-713-6198.
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About Florida East Coast Railway
FECR is a regional freight railroad that extends along a 351-mile corridor between Jacksonville, Fla., and Miami, Fla., with exclusive rail access to the Port of Palm Beach, Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) and the Port of Miami. For more information, visit fecrwy.com
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2013 Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week
Aug. 31: Collin Ellis, Northwestern
· Sept. 7: Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State
· Sept. 14: Anthony Barr, UCLA
· Sept. 21: Brock Hekking, Nevada
· Sept. 28: Shaquil Barrett, Colorado State
· Oct. 5: Terrance Plummer, UCF
· Oct. 12: Isaiah Newsome, ULM
· Oct. 19: Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State
· Oct. 26: Sam Scofield, Tulane
· Nov. 2: Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh
· Nov. 9: DeVon Edwards, Duke; Shayne Skov, Stanford