University of Houston Athletics
Hunt Selected To Defensive Watch List
5/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
HOUSTON, Texas - For the second straight week a University of Houston football standout has been named to a prestigious preseason watch list, as senior defensive end Phillip Hunt was selected to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. Center Carl Barnett was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List last week.
Named by the Football Writers Association of America, the Nagurski Trophy is awarded to the best defensive player in college football and sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club.
A consensus First Team, All-Conference USA selection in 2007, Hunt returns in 2008 as one of the top defensive players in the country. Last year, Hunt-who was double and triple-teamed at times-led the Cougars and the conference with 10.5 sacks, while his team-leading total of 18 tackles for loss placed second overall in C-USA. He also had a nation-best 10 pass breakups for a defensive lineman, and finished the season with 49 total tackles.
Hunt is joined on the watch list by four C-USA mates; Marshall defensive end Albert McClellan, Southern Miss linebacker Gerald McRath, UAB free safety Will Dunbar and UCF defensive back Joe Burnett are the C-USA players outlined among the 56-player list of premier Division I-A athletes on the preseason watch list.
The FWAA All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner from the association's 11-man All-America defensive team in November. The watch list was developed by the FWAA All-America committee with the help of the schools and conferences.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been presented since 1993 and is awarded in memory of the legendary Nagurski, a former All-America lineman at Minnesota in 1927-29 and a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s.
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