Harold Perkins Jr is named to the Watchlist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy

Every year, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy is awarded to the best defensive player in College Football. The Award was first given out in 1993 by the Football Writers Association of America named after Bronko Nagurski who was an All American and defensive standout at Minnesota. The Award gives an incredible honor to the top defensive player in college football as the Heisman has become a quarterback award.

The LSU Football program has only had one player win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy when Glenn Dorsey brought the award home along with a National Championship, the Lott Trophy, the Outland trophy, the Lombardi Award, and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award.

This year, the LSU Tigers have a player on the pre-season watchlist for the award in Linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. The Tigers have also had nominees for the Maxwell in Garrett Nussmeier and Kyren Lacy and the Outland Trophy with Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr.

This is the first of many watchlists this season for Harold Perkins as he's one of if not the best defensive player in College Football. Coming off of what many would call a down season, Perkins is expected to return to his gamewrecking form with a year at linebacker under his belt and with new defensive coordinator Blake Baker.

Perkins' success may determine how well LSU's Defense fairs

The LSU Tigers had an awful season last year defensively which saw the team clearout its entire defensive staff. In 2024, the success of the defense can be measured by how successful Harold Perkins Jr is. If Blake Baker is able to deploy Perkins in a variety of ways taking advantage of matchups then LSU will take a step up while if he can't then LSU will have wasted an incredible talent.

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