DALLAS – Junior safety Yam Banks continued to reel in preseason honors as he was named to the Bronko Nagurski Award Watch List on Tuesday as selected by the Football Writers Association of America.

The Bronko Nagurski Award is given by the FWAA annually and recognizes the top defensive player in the country. In all 10 players from the 94-player list were on last season's FWAA Freshman All-America Team. There are 70 schools – more than half of the FBS membership – represented on this year's team.

Banks, who was named First-Team All-Sun Belt as a defensive back at the end of last season, was also an honorable mention All-America selection by Phil Steele, second team by PFF and third team by CFN in 2022. Banks finished the season with a team-high six interceptions, including one against Western Kentucky at the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to conclude the season. He was credited with 50 total tackles, including 35 solo stops, with six tackles for loss and one sack. Banks finished the year with 11 pass breakups, five quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery.

The Ridgeland, Miss., native earned preseason first-team all-league honors last month and has also been selected first-team all-Sun Belt by three other publications this summer.

Former Jag and fifth-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49er's Darrell Luter Jr. was named to the preseason watch list a year ago.

Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. As in previous years, the FWAA will announce a National Defensive Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week's honored player will be added at that time.

The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2023 trophy on Nov. 15 and the winner will be unveiled Dec. 4 at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet in Charlotte, N.C.

ABOUT THE BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD 
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football's most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw "Bronko" Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

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