Greg Blair has landed on many watch lists this summer. He’s going to land on more once media days start and he’s on the first team All-AAC list. Maybe he makes a preseason All-American team. Greg Blair does know that he added another watch list to his watch list. Days after being put on the Bednarik Award watch list, he was also put on the Bronko Nagurski Award Watch List. Both of the awards honor the best defensive player in college football. Both awards were won by former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o last season. Both awards have a heavy favorite with Jadeveon Clowney from South Carolina.
The important thing about these watch lists isn’t Greg Blair has a watch list of awards that have him on their watch list, no the important thing is that you can’t pick the 75 or so best defenders in college football without adding Greg Blair. He had a tremendous season last year and is poised for another big one this year. Cincinnati has a special football player on their hands this year. The program has had a fountain of great middle linebacker play for a while. Whoever has to fill in next year has some big shoes to fill.
Here’s the entire watch list, from SB Nation (linked above):
| 2013 BRONKO NAGURSKI TROPHY PRESEASON WATCH LIST (81) | |
| Ricardo Allen, Purdue, DB | Christian Jones, Florida State, LB |
| Jeremiah Attaochu, Georgia Tech, DL | Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State, DB |
| Deion Barnes, Penn State, DL | Eric Kendricks, UCLA, LB |
| Calvin Barnett, Oklahoma State, DL | Demarcus Lawrence, Boise State, DL |
| Anthony Barr, UCLA, LB | Shaun Lewis, Oklahoma State, LB |
| Deion Belue, Alabama, DB | Craig Loston, LSU, DB |
| Bene Benwikere, San Jose State DB | Aaron Lynch, USF, DL |
| Greg Blair, Cincinnati, LB | Khalil Mack, Buffalo, LB |
| Chris Borland, Wisconsin, LB | Kareem Martin, North Carolina, DL |
| Tre Boston, North Carolina, DB | Daniel McCullers, Tennessee, DL |
| Carl Bradford, Arizona State, LB | Terrance Mitchell, Oregon, DB |
| Morgan Breslin, USC, DL | James Morris, Iowa, LB |
| Jonathan Brown, Illinois, LB | C.J. Mosley, Alabama, LB |
| Christian Bryant, Ohio State, DB | Trent Murphy, Stanford, LB |
| Max Bullough, Michigan State, LB | Marco Nelson, Tulsa, DB |
| Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina, DL | Louis Nix III, Notre Dame, DL |
| Ross Cockrell, Duke, DB | Roosevelt Nix, Kent State, DL |
| Aaron Colvin, Oklahoma, DB | Denzel Nkemdiche, Ole Miss, LB |
| Scott Crichton, Oregon State, DL | Kevin Pierre-Louis, Boston College, LB |
| Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State, DB | Hayes Pullard, USC, LB |
| Quandre Diggs, Texas, DB | Loucheiz Purifoy, Florida, DB |
| Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh, DL | Ed Reynolds, Stanford, DB |
| Dominique Easley, Florida, DL | Bradley Roby, Ohio State, DB |
| Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon, DB | Marcus Rush, Michigan State, DL |
| Antone Exum, Virginia Tech, DB | Tyler Scott, Northwestern, DL |
| Devonte Fields, TCU, DL | Ryan Shazier, Ohio State, LB |
| Ben Gardner, Stanford, DL | Shayne Skov, Stanford, LB |
| Justin Gilbert, Oklahoma State, DB | Yawin Smallwood, Connecticut, LB |
| Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Alabama, DB | Chris Smith, Arkansas, DL |
| Ra’Shede Hageman, Minnesota, DL | Hakeem Smith, Louisville, DB |
| Bryce Hager, Baylor, LB | Will Sutton, Arizona State, DL |
| Andre Hal, Vanderbilt, DB | Damian Swann, Georgia, DB |
| Jordan Hicks, Texas, LB | Stephon Tuitt, Notre Dame, DL |
| Adrian Hubbard, Alabama, LB | Jack Tyler, Virginia Tech, LB |
| Kerry Hyder, Texas Tech, DL | Kyle Van Noy, BYU, LB |
| Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky, LB | Jason Verrett, TCU, DB |
| Shawn Jackson, Tulsa, LB | Nickoe Whitley, Mississippi State, DB |
| Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas, DL | Nikita Whitlock, Wake Forest, DL |
| Timmy Jernigan, Florida State, DL | Leonard Williams, USC, DL |
| A.J. Johnson, Tennessee, LB | Ty Zimmerman, Kansas State, DB |
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