DALLAS (FWAA) – Nevada end Brock Hekking has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 21.
Hekking registered six tackles, including 3.5 for losses in Nevada’s 31-9 victory over Hawaii. He also forced two fumbles, broke up two passes and made an interception. Of Hawaii’s 14 possessions in the game, Hekking ended five of them with a defensive play.
The 6-4, 255-pound junior from Vacaville, Calif., has been added to the 2013 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. Five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be announced by the Football Writers Association of America on Nov. 21. The winner will be revealed on Dec. 9 during a banquet that the Charlotte Touchdown Club sponsors at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. Florida head coach Will Muschamp will be the keynote speaker at the banquet.
Each Tuesday during the 2013 season the FWAA All-America Committee will select a national defensive player of the week from nominations made by the 10 Division I Bowl Subdivision conferences and major independents.
The FWAA has sponsored a National Defensive Player of the Year award since 1993 and has named a National Defensive Player of the Week since the 2001 season. Last year, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o won the coveted Bronko Nagurski Trophy at season’s end. In 2007, the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown club added the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award, which is sponsored by Florida East Coast Railway. A top defensive player from a past FWAA All-America team is the annual recipient of that award. Former Georgia Tech great Randy Rhino is the winner of the 2013 award.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Assocation. The NCFAA encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.
The trophy is given in memory of the legendary All-American lineman at Minnesota (1927-29). Nagurski dominated college football at Minnesota as a bruising fullback and defensive tackle and could have been an All-America at any position. He then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s.
2013 Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week
• Aug. 31: Collin Ellis, Northwestern
• Sept. 7: Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State
• Sept. 14: Anthony Barr, UCLA
• Sept. 21: Brock Hekking, Nevada
