Nov. 24, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Senior defensive end Carl Nassib (West Chester, Pa.) is one of three finalists for the Bednarik Award for the College Defensive Player of the Year. Nassib and the other finalists will be honored at the ESPN College Football Awards Show presented by Home Depot in Atlanta on Thursday, Dec. 10. The show will air live on ESPN at 7 p.m.
Previously, Nassib is also a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for the Nation's Top Defensive Player, Rotary Lombardi Award for the Nation's Top Lineman (offensive or defensive) and Burlsworth Trophy for most outstanding football player in America who began his career as a walk-on.
The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995. Chuck Bednarik, former standout at Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles, 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.
The Nittany Lions' four Bednarik Award recipients are the most of any school in the nation. Dan Connor is the most recent winner in 2007, while Paul Posluszny won the award in back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006. LaVar Arrington also won the top defensive player honor in 1999. Other Nittany Lions to be a finalist for the Bednarik Award are: Devon Still (2011), Aaron Maybin (2008) and Courtney Brown (1999).
In addition to Nassib, Temple's Tyler Matakevich and Alabama's Reggie Ragland are also finalists.
Nassib burst onto the national scene this year and leads FBS in sacks (15.5), tackles for loss (19.5) and forced fumbles (6). He has recorded a sack the first 10 games this season and five multi-sack games. His streak came to an end against Michigan as he only played three snaps due to injury. With one sack at Northwestern, Nassib broke the Penn State single-season sacks record by upping his total to 15.5. He surpasses the mark of 15 sacks set by Larry Kubin (1979) and Michael Haynes (2002).
Additionally, Nassib's six forced fumbles this season are the most by a Penn State player since Haynes had a school-record seven in the 2002. Nassib is the first Penn State player to force two fumbles in two games in a season since Maurice Evans did it in 2007. Evans had two forced fumbles against Indiana and two forced fumbles against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.
The West Chester, Pennsylvania native was recently named a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is given to a distinguished young men represent the qualities embodied by Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott -- Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity. Additionally, he was also a midseason All-America choice by SI.com, ESPN.com, USAToday.com and CBS Sports.
The Nittany Lions are bowl eligible for the 46th time. Penn State's 45 bowl appearances are the ninth-most among FBS schools at the start of the season. The announcement of the bowl game and opponent will be announced Sunday, Dec. 6. Fans can visit Penn State's Bowl Central at GoPSUsports.com/bowlcentral for more information.