The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hager, Johnson named to Bednarik Award watch list
07.16.2018 | Football
DL Breckyn Hager and LB Gary Johnson are on the watch list for College Football’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Texas Football's Breckyn Hager and Gary Johnson were named to the 2018 watch list for the Bednarik Award on Monday, presented annually to the College Defensive Player of the Year. The award was first given in 1995. No Longhorn has won the award, but Derrick Johnson was a finalist in 2004.
Hager, a native of Austin, Texas, played in all 13 games a season ago and made four starts. He was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by the league's head coaches, finishing the season with 23 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four sacks, four pass breakups, three QB hurries and a fumble recovery. For his career, Hager has totaled 105 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. He has played in 34 career games with nine starts. He was named preseason All-Big 12 by the league's media, Athlon Sports (first team) and Phil Steele (second team) earlier this summer.
Johnson, who hails from Douglas, Ala., enters his second with the Longhorns after playing his first two seasons at Dodge City CC. He played in 13 games last season with seven starts, finishing fourth on the team with 60 tackles. He added six tackles for loss, two sacks, four QB hurries, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. He was named Big 12 co-Defensive Player of the Week following a win at West Virginia in which he totaled seven tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a QB hurry. That fourth quarter strip-sack led directly to Longhorn points and extended the lead to 14 points as UT clinched bowl-eligibility.
The Bednarik Award is named after Chuck Bednarik, a former standout at both Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame's Class of '69 and the NFL Hall of Fame's Class of '67.
