BATON ROUGE – LSU is beginning to fill up the watch lists for college football’s biggest awards.
LSU defensive backs Grant Delpit and Kristian Fulton were selected on Tuesday to the preseason watch list for the Bednarik Award, which is presented annually to the top defender in college football.
Then on Wednesday, quarterback Joe Burrow and running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire were named to the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, which has been presented annually to America’s College Player of the Year since 1937.
Delpit made the list of Bednarik Award semifinalist a year ago and is coming off an All-America season in 2018 in which he lead the Southeastern Conference interceptions (5) and ranked No. 2 in the league in passes defended (14). He led the Tigers in sacks (5.0), finished third in tackles (74), and added another 10.5 tackles for loss.
Fulton returns for his second year as a starter at cornerback for the Tigers in 2019 after having a breakout season in 2018. Fulton started 10 games last season and finished with 25 tackles, one interception and 10 passes defended.
Burrow and Edwards-Helaire are both making their first appearance on a preseason award watch list.
Burrow returns as the Tigers starting quarterback after guiding the LSU to a 10-3 mark and a Fiesta Bowl win over UCF last year. In 2018, Burrow became the first player in LSU history to throw for 2,800 yards and rush for more than 350 yards in the same season.
Burrow also set the program’s single-game record for touchdowns accounted for with six (3 rushing, 3 passing) in the seven-overtime loss to Texas A&M.
Edwards-Helaire meanwhile finished second on the team in rushing last year with 658 yards and seven TDs. He also ranked fifth in the SEC in kickoff return yards (416) and kickoff return average (24.5).
National Preseason Award Watch List Release Dates
Tuesday, July 16 Davey O’Brien Award
Wednesday, July 17 Doak Walker Award
Thursday, July 18 Biletnikoff Award
Friday, July 19 Mackey Award and Rimington Trophy
Monday, July 22 Jim Thorpe Award and Butkus Award
Tuesday, July 23 Outland Trophy and Nagurski Award
Wednesday, July 24 Lou Groza Award and Ray Guy Award
Thursday, July 25 Paul Hornung Award and Wuerffel Trophy
Friday, July 26 Walter Camp Award