Nebraska Football: JoJo Domann Named to Nagurski Trophy Watch List Huskers News Scott Frost

College football’s best defensive player in the country at the end of the season wins the Nagurski Trophy.

Well Nebraska’s JoJo Domann was named as a member of the watchlist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. He is not alone as he is one of 90 players who made the list and 13 from the Big Ten. The last Nebraska player to win the Nagurski? Ndamukong Suh.

JoJo Domann is kind of a unicorn. He reminds me a bit of Eric Hagg, not in terms of style but in the terms that it’s hard to button him down to a single position. Domann plays all over the field for the Nebraska defense.

While it isn’t exactly huge news to fall on a watch-list, I would say it is better to have made one than to not have made it at all.

Here is a statement from the Athletic Department:

University of Nebraska outside linebacker JoJo Domann continued the Huskers’ run of watch list candidates Tuesday morning, as he was named to the preseason 2021 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch by the Football Writers of America (FWAA).

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy presented by LendingTree is awarded to the nation’s top defensive player and the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker from Colorado Springs, Colo., is one of 13 Big Ten players on the 90-member preseason watch list.

Domann, a sixth-year senior, returns to anchor the Husker defense after starting all eight games in a shortened 2020 campaign. He earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors, finishing with a career-high 58 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He recorded a pair of double-digit tackle performances, including a career-high 12 stops in the win over Penn State. He enters the 2021 campaign with 137 career tackles, including 16.5 tackles for loss, in 41 career appearances.

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will be chosen from five finalists and honored at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet presented by LendingTree on Dec. 6 at the Charlotte Convention Center. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association’s full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Nagurski Trophy finalists. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.