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Four Sun Belt Student-Athletes Make Bronko Nagurski Watch List

BOONE, N.C. — ­­The preseason watch list for the 2018 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is given to the best defensive player in college football, includes Appalachian State senior cornerback Tae Hayes.
 
Hayes is moving forward from a 2017 season in which he recorded four interceptions, 16 passes defended (ranking 18th nationally), 53 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and one forced fumble. He tied a school record with three interceptions against New Mexico State and earned All-Sun Belt first-team honors from the PFF College Football Site.
 
Hayes, a native of Decatur, Ala., played in 39 games and made 20 starts in his first three seasons.
 
Of the 97 players on the watch list, he is one of 27 defensive backs and one of four players from the Sun Belt Conference.
 
The Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 14.

JONESBORO, Ark. – Arkansas State senior defensive back Justin Clifton has been named to the 2018 Bronko Nagurski Preseason Watch List, which is given annually to the nation’s best defensive player in college football.

Clifton is one of 97 players recognized by the organization after he compiled a stellar junior season for the Red Wolves. The Sun Belt Preseason First-Team All-Conference pick compiled 63 tackles to rank third on the team in 2017, while also collecting a career-best 13 pass break-ups and had two forced fumbles. He was the only player in the league and just one of six in the nation with 63 tackles and 13 pass break-ups.

The Tupelo, Miss., native also was posted multiple tackles in every game and accounted for at least one pass break-up in nine games. He returns for his senior season as the school’s active leader in career tackles (179), tackles for loss (18), interceptions (4), pass break-ups (19) and forced fumbles (4).

The Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 14.



TROY, Ala. – Troy cornerback Blace Brown and bandit Hunter Reese are among the 96 players named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List by the National Football Foundation on Tuesday. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is presented annually to the nation's top defensive player. 
 
Troy is one of just four Group of Five programs with multiple players on the list – UCF, Wyoming and Florida Atlantic – and one of just 23 programs nationally with multiple selections.
 
Brown, a Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team selection, enters the 2018 season second among active players with 11 career interceptions.Asenior from Canton, Ga., Brown earned first team All-Sun Belt honors last season after he ranked 11th nationally with five interceptions. He added a pick six at Boise State and pulled down two of the most impactful interceptions of the season for the Trojans at LSU and Arkansas State.
 
A former walk-on wide receiver for the Trojans, Brown ranked seventh nationally in 2016 as a sophomore with six interceptions, including a pair of multi-interception games. His 0.41 career interceptions per game rank second nationally among active players but take out his three games as a receiver in 2014 and his per-game total jumps to an FBS best (active players) 0.46 interceptions per game.

Reese, a senior from Wetumpka, Ala., earned 2017 All-Sun Belt First Team honors after finishing fifth in the league with 14.0 tackles for loss and seventh with 6.5 sacks despite starting just six games. 
 
Another former walk-on for the Trojans, Reese earned a scholarship prior to the start of the 2017 season. A Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team selection, Reese ended the season strong with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks and an interception in Troy's victory in the New Orleans Bowl.

The Trojans set a school FBS record with 11 wins en route to their sixth Sun Belt Conference championship and a New Orleans Bowl title in 2017. Troy's 21 victories over the past two seasons are the eighth most in the country and the Trojans will carry the nation's fourth-longest active winning streak of seven games into the season opener against Boise State.

Season ticket packages start as low as $60 and all ticket prices are identical to those from 2017. Troy plays host to six home games during the 2018 campaign, including visits from Boise State, Georgia State and Louisiana.