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Oklahoma Defenders Land Spot on Bednarik Award Watch List

Linebacker Danny Stutsman and safety Billy Bowman both secured a spot on their second preseason watch list for national defensive player of the year awards.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma's Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman
Oklahoma's Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI
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It appears the ticket of Stutsman/Bowman in 2024 is a winning choice.

Once again, Oklahoma’s senior duo landed on the preseason watch list for college football’s defensive player of the year award.

Previously, senior linebacker Danny Stutsman and senior safety Billy Bowman were named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list. On Monday, they were both named to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award.

Both awards recognize the top defensive player in the college game. In OU history, only linebacker Teddy Lehman in 2003 received the Bednarik Award.

Bowman was second in the nation last year in interceptions, with six, and returned a nation-leading three of those for touchdowns (and led the country with 238 return yards).

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior from Denton, TX, has started 29 of his 35 games at OU, including all 13 last season, when he made a career-high 63 tackles, three tackles for loss and four passes defensed.

According to Pro Football Focus, Bowman posted a 54.1 overall defensive grade as a true freshman in 2021, a 73.3 as a junior and a 68.2 last year. His 2022 coverage grade of 82.3 ranked 39th among Power 5 defensive backs. He played 781 total snaps last year, per PFF, which ranked second on the defense behind cornerback Woodi Washington’s 851.

READ MORE WATCH LISTS


LB Danny Stutsman on Bednarik
S Billy Bowman on Bednarik
C Branson Hickman on Rimington
WR Nic Anderson on Biletnikoff
RB Gavin Sawchuk on Walker
P Luke Elzinga on Guy
LB Danny Stutsman on Camp
RB Gavin Sawchuk on Wuerffel
C Branson Hickman on Outland
LB Danny Stutsman on Nagurski
S Billy Bowman on Nagurski
DS Ben Anderson on Mannelly
S Billy Bowman on Thorpe
QB Jackson Arnold on Maxwell

Stutsman, a 6-2, 241-pound senior from Windermere, FL, led the Sooners in tackles and was among the national leaders each of the last two seasons (125 and 104, respectively). With 267 career stops in his 35 games (25 starts), he’s on the verge of cracking the school’s all-time top 10. He also has 28.0 TFLs with three career interceptions, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, eight passes defensed and seven quarterback sacks.

Stutsman received second-team All-America honors and first-team All-Big 12 last year. He also landed on the preseason All-SEC first team this year.

Stutsman played 722 snaps last year and his overall defensive grade of 71.8 from PFF ranked 29th among Power 5 linebackers nationally.

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.

The Bednarik Award watch list will once again incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and conferences from coast to coast, led by 4 returning 2023 semifinalists: Malaki Starks (Georgia) , Ashton Gillotte (Louisville), Howard Cross III (Notre Dame) and Jason Henderson (Old Dominion). Georgia, Iowa, Miami, Michigan and Ohio State lead the way with 3 candidates each and an additional 13 schools boast 2 players represented. 6 conferences are represented, SEC (21), ACC (19), Big10 (19), Big12 (13), AAC (4), MAC (4), Mountain West (4) and Sunbelt (3). There are also 3 Independents who have candidates listed.

Last year’s Chuck Bednarik Award winner was Payton Wilson Jr. (NC State) who went on to be the 3rd round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2024 NFL Draft. Wilson was the first NC State player to win the Bednarik Award.

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John E. Hoover

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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