Landman Named To Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List

BOULDER—Senior Nate Landman is one of 98 players nationally on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy presented by LendingTree, the Football Writers Association of America and Charlotte Touchdown Club announced Tuesday.  The award is given to the nation's top defensive player, picked from a group of five finalists that are narrowed down after the selection of the FWAA All-America team.   

Landman, who was on the watch list last season for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, becomes the first CU player to earn a mention on the watch list twice.  Landman would be the first CU player to win the award.  Beginning in 1993, CU's lone semifinalist for the award was Matt Russell in 1996, the same year he won the Butkus Award.  

This is the fourth watch list for Landman, having been named to the Butkus Award watch list on Monday and the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list last week.  In June, he was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list.   He was named third-team Preseason All-America by Phil Steele, which also named him first-team Preseason All-Pac-12 along with Athlon.  

Landman is returning for his senior season and has earned various levels of All-America and All-Pac-12 honors each of the last two years.  He became just the sixth CU player to record 250 tackles in adjoining seasons (123 in 2018 and 137 in 2019), and he's the two-time defending defensive MVP for the Buffs. 

He has played in 35 career games with 24 career starts, most on the team.  He has 277 career tackles, 21st in CU history, including 25 for a loss, 12 pass breakups and three interceptions.   

The National College Football Awards Association is in the midst of two weeks of watch list announcements.  The remaining schedule is as follows: Lou Groza Award (July 22), Ray Guy Award (July 22), Paul Hornung Award (July 23), Wuerffel Trophy (July 23) and the Maxwell Award (July 24).