July 5, 2016
NOTRE DAME, Indiana – University of Notre Dame senior defensive lineman Isaac Rochell was one of the 90 players named to the 2016 Chuck Bednarik Award List, announced Tuesday by the Maxwell Football Club.
Rochell (McDonough, Georgia/Eagle’s Landing Christian) has started 25 of Notre Dame’s 26 games over the last two seasons. He played on the defensive line in all 13 games in 2015 and started 12. Rochell registered 63 tackles, including 31 solo stops, seven and a half tackles for loss, seven QB hurries, two pass breakups, two passes defended and one sack. He ranked fifth on the Irish and tops among all defensive linemen in tackles. Rochell’s 63 tackles were the most by a Notre Dame defensive lineman since Trevor Laws had 112 in 2007. He registered at least a half of a TFL in nine of the 13 games.
Rochell is in contention to be the second Irish recipient of the Bednarik Award. Former All-American linebacker Manti Te’o captured the award in 2012.
The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995. Chuck Bednarik, former standout at Penn and with the Philadelphia Eagles, is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of ’69 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of ’67.
Semifinalists for the Bednarik Award will be announced October 31, 2016, while the three finalists will be unveiled November 21, 2016. The winner of the 2016 Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 8, 2016. The formal presentation of the award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Tropicana Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on March 10, 2017.
— ND —