Junior safety Jalen Thompson was named to the 2018 Bednarik Award Watch List on Monday when the Maxwell Club announced their list of 84 candidates. The award is given annually to the best defensive player in college football and is named after linebacker Chuck Bednarik.
Thompson has become a force in the Cougars secondary ever since stepping foot on campus. As a freshman in 2016 he was named to ESPN’s True-Freshman All-America Team when he led the team with pass breakups with 7 and tallied 51 total tackles.
Last season he was named to the AP All-Pac-12 first team and to the Pac-12 second team by the conference.