South Carolina’s sophomore DB Stephon Gilmore has been named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list for th 2010 season. As a freshman last year Gilmore had 56 tackles, broke up 8 passes and had one interception. Gilmore will look to build on these numbers his sophomore season as the Gamecock defense returns the majority of the starters from last season.
There were 6 players from the SEC on the Jim Thorpe Watch list: Janoris Jenkis (Florida), Will Hill (Florida), Patrick Paterson (LSU), Mark Barron (Alabama) and Brandon Boykin (UGA). Tennessee’s Eric Berry won the award last year and was only the fourth SEC player to win this award in the last 20 years.
In my opinion, the following players have the best chance of winning the Thorpe award this year –
Brandon Harris (Miami) A finalist for this award last year, he was the top DB in the ACC, and has a great chance of improving on his statistical numbers this season. Ranked 2nd nationally in averaging 1.31 passes defended per contest, and tied for 2nd nationally with 15 pass break-ups and 3rd in passes defended (17).
Rahim Moore ( UCLA) Moore lead the nation last year in interceptions with 10. Moore was the first player since 2003 to have 10 interceptions in a single season. If Moore continues to rake up interceptions in a pass happy PAC-12, look for him to be the favorite to win the Jim Thrope Award.
DeAndre McDanial (Clemson) As much as I hate to put McDanial on the list, he is a quality safety. He was the only player in the nation last year to have more then 100 tackles and 8 interceptions. Clemson might have lost a lot on offense, but there defense should be tops in the ACC.
Patrick Peterson ( LSU) The highly touted LSU junior had 13 pass break ups last year and 2 interceptions. He is considered one of the top NFL draft prospects for the 2011 draft and was 2009 second team all american, and first team All SEC.
We will have to wait and see which defensive back steps up this season and proves that he is the best.
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