Fighting Illini football’s Dawuane Smoot was named to the 2016 Ted Hendricks Award Watch List on Friday morning. The senior is one of 28 players under consideration for the honor, which is given to the nation’s top defensive end. Smoot figures to be the anchor of Illinois’ strong front-four after recording 8.0 sacks and 40.0 tackles (15.0 TFLs) in 2015.
Smoot joins Tyquan Lewis (Ohio State) and Chris Wormley (Michigan) as one of three Big Ten players on the initial list. Whitney Mercilus (2011) is the only member of the Fighting Illini to take home the award since its creation in 2002.