Coming off of a national championship, LSU led the nation with three players being named to the Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday.
The Bednarik Award is presented annually to the outstanding defensive player in college football. LSU has had two Bednarik Award winners as Patrick Peterson (2010) and Tyrann Mathieu (2011) captured the honor in back-to-back years.
The three representatives from LSU were cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., linebacker Jabril Cox, and safety JaCoby Stevens.
Stingley, a consensus All-American last season, started all 15 games for the Tigers a year ago and he capped his freshman season by leading the SEC in both interceptions (6) and passes defended (21).
Stevens, a senior, enters his third season as a starter for LSU in 2020. Stevens earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors three times in 2019 and was a second team All-SEC selection. Stevens is LSU’s leading returning tackler in 2020 as he racked up 92 tackles to go with 9.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks a year ago.
Cox, a graduate transfer linebacker from North Dakota State, enters his first year at LSU after winning back-to-back Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national titles with the Bison in 2018 and 2019.