Five USU football players make NCAA watch lists

This July we saw the annual tradition of award watch lists. The time where the guardians of nationwide positional awards send out a list of players they think could be in contention to win said awards. Most years, Utah State finds itself sitting out this period of the college football calendar (with a few exceptions here or there throughout the years) but 2019 has left nothing wanting so far for the Aggies in terms of national recognition.

There are some 16 watch lists that were released in a two-week span from July 15-26 and here you will find a summary of each of the USU football players that made some of these noteworthy lists.

Actually winning one of these awards is a bit of a long shot. Only the legendary Merlin Olsen has taken home hardware of this type — the Outland Trophy in 1961). There are a lot of talented players in the NCAA and the concept of the best in one area residing in Logan isn’t an easy one to buy. However, it’s still nice to see some level of recognition for the great play of the following athletes.

Here’s the list of nominees out of Logan.

David Woodward

• Bednarik Award (college defensive player of the year)
• Lott IMPACT Trophy (outstanding defensive player)
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy (nation’s most outstanding defensive player)
• Butkus Award (nation’s best linebacker)

Being noticed for three defensive player of the year awards is nothing to sneeze at, and David Woodward himself is certainly nothing to sneeze at either. As just a sophomore, Woodward led the Aggies in tackles (134), was second in sacks (5.0) and tackles for loss (12.5) and had a pair of interceptions and forced two fumbles.

Woodward’s dominating performance in the Mountain West led Pro Football Focus to name the Olympia, Washington product as the MW Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-American. The Associated Press named Woodward Third-Team All-American.

Woodward is clearly one of the best inside linebackers in the country and a productive season wherein he improves on all of his numbers in 2018 (very likely possibility considering he’ll stay in for all four quarters of more games) would put him in the conversation. Gary Andersen has produced a lot of good linebackers in his time and that won’t go unnoticed by those handing out the trophies.

As a final and somewhat random note, the inaugural Lott Trophy winner was San Jose State’s Neil Parry in 2003 so anything’s possible when it comes to claiming hardware.

Jordan Love

• Davey O’Brien Award (nation’s top quarterback)
• Maxwell Award (player of the year according to the Maxwell Football Club)
• Walter Camp Award (nation’s most outstanding player according to the Walter Camp Football Foundation)

Love is merely starting to reap the benefits of his record-breaking 2018 season with a long list of honors from these watch list committees. If throwing for 3,567 yards, 32 touchdowns (running for seven more) and completing 64 percent of his passes didn’t turn heads, the fact Love set five school records in 2018 certainly should have.

From attending the Manning Passing Academy this summer, to nearly every offseason QB ranking list putting him in the top 10 of passers nationwide, Love is clearly a known commodity outside the confines of quiet Cache Valley.

Unfortunately for Love, as good as he is, the category he’ll be competing in is tougher than one can hardly imagine. A cadre of superstar quarterback prospects, including Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Sam Ehlinger and Jake Fromm, make claiming a trophy like the Davey O’Brien Award a near impossibility (if not for the pure talent of the above QBs, then Love’s status as a G5 quarterback will certainly do him in).

For similar reasons, the player of the year trophies like the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards are likely out of Love’s reach. But so long as they are within shouting distance, that shouldn’t be a problem for Aggie fans, Love himself, and his future career in college and the professional ranks.

Photo by Megan Nielsen

Tipa Galeai

• Bednarik Award

Just one nomination for the Mountain West’s returning sack leader, maybe not the best move on the part of nation-wide onlookers. The fact of the matter is that Galeai is an NFL-caliber pass rusher. He alters games with his dominance and re-arranges entire pass-blocking schemes by his presence alone.

Dominating performances and outrageous numbers could easily slot Galeai into the conversation for not only the Bednarik trophy, but also some pass-rusher specific honors. And despite how he is seemingly constantly overlooked and forgotten when discussing the upcoming USU football season, dominating performances and outrageous numbers are exactly what one should expect from the senior.

Dominik Eberle

• Lou Groza Award (nation’s top placekicker)
• Wuerffel Trophy (community service)

If there’s any award among these hallowed few that could wind up in Utah State’s trophy case it’s the 2019 Lou Groza Award. Being an award about kickers, it’s not subject to the same kind of hype that skews public opinion away from deserving players at non-P5 schools. This award is simply about pure kicking ability and, to some degree, raw production. If you kick well and a lot, it doesn’t matter where you go to school or how good your team is. You can win the Lou Groza Award.

This is Eberle’s second nomination for the award as he received a watch list spot for the 2018 award and was even a semi-finalist. Eberle finished the season as the fourth leading scorer with 141 points on 22-of-28 field goals and 75 extra points. But it was the man he was second to in scoring, Andre Szmyt, who won the award.

Eberle’s inaccuracy (six missed field goals) was probably the deciding factor in keeping the Lou Groza Award out of his hands (feet?), but if he can make as close to all of 28 to 30 field goal attempts, the award will be well within reach of Eberle.

D.J. Williams

• Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s best defensive back)

Being one of the better defensive backs in the Mountain West (and arguably its best), there’s no surprise Williams got put on this list. It’ll be a tall order to top the mountain of P5 corners that will garner attention this fall, but Williams has an outside shot at getting his name in as a semi-finalist or finalist with a top form season in 2019.

The Aggies will definitely need Williams’ best with the team fielding a somewhat shallow secondary. He should prove up to the task of holding his wide receiver matchups to minimal catches and minimal games. Williams tied with five other players in the MW with four interceptions and was fourth in passes defended at 11.