Watch-list season is officially upon us. Most of college football's individual awards will be releasing preseason watch lists throughout the next week and a half, wrapping up July 19 with the Walter Camp Award watch list.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy, awarded annually to the national defensive player of the year by the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club, steps up next in line with a hefty 81-player watch list.
Every Tuesday during the season, the FWAA will choose a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week. If that player is not on the watch list below, his name will be added for consideration. The FWAA and Charlotte Touchdown Club will then narrow the list to five finalists, announced on Nov. 21. After the 2013 FWAA All-America Team balloting, the committee will choose a winner from the five finalists by individual ballot. The winner will be announced at a banquet in Charlotte on Dec. 9.
While the SEC leads the way with 16 players on the list, each of the power five conferences are well represented.
SEC: 16
Pac-12: 14
Big Ten: 13
ACC: 12
Big 12: 12
American: 4
Independents: 3
Conference USA: 2
MAC: 2
MW: 2
Sun Belt: 1
South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is the only returning finalist from 2012, when the trophy was awarded to Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, now a member of the San Diego Chargers.
Check out the full list below. Remember, names can be added or removed from this list during the first weeks of the season. There are no official "snubs" quite yet.
Ricardo Allen, Purdue, DB
Jeremiah Attaochu, Georgia Tech, DL
Deion Barnes, Penn State, DL
Calvin Barnett, Oklahoma State, DL
Anthony Barr, UCLA, LB
Deion Belue, Alabama, DB
Bene Benwikere, San Jose State DB
Greg Blair, Cincinnati, LB
Chris Borland, Wisconsin, LB
Tre Boston, North Carolina, DB
Carl Bradford, Arizona State, LB
Morgan Breslin, USC, DL
Jonathan Brown, Illinois, LB
Christian Bryant, Ohio State, DB
Max Bullough, Michigan State, LB
Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina, DL
Ross Cockrell, Duke, DB
Aaron Colvin, Oklahoma, DB
Scott Crichton, Oregon State, DL
Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State, DB
Quandre Diggs, Texas, DB
Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh, DL
Dominique Easley, Florida, DL
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Oregon, DB
Antone Exum, Virginia Tech, DB
Devonte Fields, TCU, DL
Ben Gardner, Stanford, DL
Justin Gilbert, Oklahoma State, DB
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Alabama, DB
Ra'Shede Hageman, Minnesota, DL
Bryce Hager, Baylor, LB
Andre Hal, Vanderbilt, DB
Jordan Hicks, Texas, LB
Adrian Hubbard, Alabama, LB
Kerry Hyder, Texas Tech, DL
Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky, LB
Shawn Jackson, Tulsa, LB
Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas, DL
Timmy Jernigan, Florida State, DL
A.J. Johnson, Tennessee, LB
Anthony Johnson, LSU, DL
Christian Jones, Florida State, LB
Lamarcus Joyner, Florida State, DB
Eric Kendricks, UCLA, LB
Demarcus Lawrence, Boise State, DL
Shaun Lewis, Oklahoma State, LB
Craig Loston, LSU, DB
Aaron Lynch, USF, DL
Khalil Mack, Buffalo, LB
Kareem Martin, North Carolina, DL
Daniel McCullers, Tennessee, DL
Terrance Mitchell, Oregon, DB
James Morris, Iowa, LB
C.J. Mosley, Alabama, LB
Trent Murphy, Stanford, LB
Marco Nelson, Tulsa, DB
Louis Nix III, Notre Dame, DL
Roosevelt Nix, Kent State, DL
Denzel Nkemdiche, Ole Miss, LB
Kevin Pierre-Louis, Boston College, LB
Hayes Pullard, USC, LB
Loucheiz Purifoy, Florida, DB
Ed Reynolds, Stanford, DB
Bradley Roby, Ohio State, DB
Marcus Rush, Michigan State, DL
Tyler Scott, Northwestern, DL
Ryan Shazier, Ohio State, LB
Shayne Skov, Stanford, LB
Yawin Smallwood, Connecticut, LB
Chris Smith, Arkansas, DL
Hakeem Smith, Louisville, DB
Will Sutton, Arizona State, DL
Damian Swann, Georgia, DB
Stephon Tuitt, Notre Dame, DL
Jack Tyler, Virginia Tech, LB
Kyle Van Noy, BYU, LB
Jason Verrett, TCU, DB
Nickoe Whitley, Mississippi State, DB
Nikita Whitlock, Wake Forest, DL
Leonard Williams, USC, DL
Ty Zimmerman, Kansas State, DB