Josh Allen earns Bronko Nagurski Trophy

Josh Allen has earned his first major college football award.

It came Monday night when he was named the 2018 Bronko Nagurski winner, given to the nation’s top defensive player.

Allen is in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy award banquet. It’s the first of what’s hopes to be several major defensive awards that Allen takes home. He was just named SEC Defensive Player of the Year by the AP in addition to being a First Team All-SEC pick.

Allen, who became UK’s all-time sack leader this season and broke the school’s single-season sack record with 14, is also a finalist for the Butkus award given to the nation’s best linebacker, Chuck Bednarik Award, and Lott IMPACT trophy all given to the nation’s best defensive player.

Allen has definitely become a star this year after having a monstrous season with the Wildcats. He finished off his senior season at Kentucky with 52 solo tackles, 32 assisted tackles, 18.5 tackles for a loss and 5 forced fumbles to go with those 14 sacks. This is not even including the bowl game if Allen chooses to play in it. He’s currently projected as a top-five prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft by Mel Kiper.

Allen is UK’s first Nagurski Award winner and the SEC’s fourth, joining Georgia’s Champ Bailey (1998), LSU’s Glenn Dorsey (2007) and Alabama’s Jonathan Allen (2016).

A well-deserved congratulations on this honor.

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