{"id":19183,"date":"2018-12-07T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T17:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=19183"},"modified":"2018-12-07T10:07:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:07:10","slug":"josh-allen-wins-the-bednarik-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2018\/12\/07\/josh-allen-wins-the-bednarik-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Allen Wins The Bednarik Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a season of rewriting history for the Kentucky Football team a little more was made on Thursday night. Senior linebacker\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/josh-allen-6.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Allen <\/a> wins the Bednarik Award as the nation&#8217;s best defensive player.<\/p>\n<h2>Josh Allen Wins The Bednarik Award<\/h2>\n<p>Allen won the award over Alabama defensive tackle\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/quinnen-williams-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quinnen Williams <\/a> and Clemson defensive tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/christian-wilkins-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Wilkins<\/a>. The award was given out as part of the the Home Depot Awards show in Atlanta. The formal presentation happens on March 8, 2019 in Atlantic City.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The awards just keep coming and we are loving every minute of it! <\/p>\n<p>Congrats to @JoshAllen41_, the 2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BednarikAward?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BednarikAward<\/a> winner! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GetUp?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GetUp<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WcRZJN23Wk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WcRZJN23Wk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UKFootball\/status\/1070879122019311616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A Monclair, New Jersey native, Allen capped off an historic season with the Bednarik Award. With 28.5 career sacks he broke the record set by <strong>Oliver Barnett.<\/strong> In addition his 14 sacks in 2018 broke <strong>Dennis Johnson&#8217;s<\/strong> single season mark of 12. Furthermore, 12 of his 14 sacks came in the second half with an astounding eight in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n<p>The award is named after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/chuck-bednarik-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chuck Bednarik ,<\/a> a former standout in college at Penn and in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. Allen is the first Kentucky player to ever win the honor and sixth in the SEC. Previous winners include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/aaron-donald-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Donald<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/tyrann-mathieu-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrann Mathieu<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/patrick-peterson-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patrick Peterson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI knew I was destined for something good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first player in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UKFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@UKFootball<\/a> history to win the Bednarik Award: @JoshAllen41_  \ud83c\udfc6 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OLy464mm30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OLy464mm30<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SEC Network (@SECNetwork) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SECNetwork\/status\/1070874789169020928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Allen already took home one trophy this week winning the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/bronko-nagurski-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bronko Nagurski<\/a> Award for the nation&#8217;s best defensive player, given by the Football Writers Association of America. He is the first Kentucky player to win a national award since\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/bob-gain-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bob Gain<\/a> won the Outland Trophy in 1950.<\/p>\n<h3>Only The Beginning?<\/h3>\n<p>As it stands right now Allen&#8217;s trophy case is getting big. However it soon could get even bigger. The senior is nominated for two more awards, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/ted-hendricks-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ted Hendricks<\/a> Award and the Lott Impact Trophy. As he gets ready for his final game in the <strong>Citrus Bowl<\/strong> against <strong>Penn State<\/strong> Allen is projected as a possible top three pick in April&#8217;s NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Since he played in the 1970&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/art-still-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Art Still<\/a> has been the standard bearer for defensive players at Kentucky. However Allen has taken taken that honor much like he took the football away from the offense. His six forced fumbles tied him with six other players for tops in the country. In addition he ties former Cat\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/danny-trevathan-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danny Trevathan<\/a> in forced fumbles with 11. That didn&#8217;t become a stat until 1988.<\/p>\n<p>Again Josh Allen wins the Bednarik Award as the top defensive player in the nation. It caps off the best season in history for a Kentucky Wildcats football player.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First Team All-American         \u2705 <br \/>Nagurski Trophy Winner        \u2705<br \/>Chuck Bednarik Award           \u2705<br \/>SEC top Defensive Player      \u2705<br \/>First team All-SEC                  \u2705<br \/>Awesome &amp; humble person  \u2705<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BBN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BBN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vaughtsviews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@vaughtsviews<\/a> @gbbcountry <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UKFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@UKFootball<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KySportsRadio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@KySportsRadio<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9oaXoHMz7k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9oaXoHMz7k<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Rains (@RuppArenaMike) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RuppArenaMike\/status\/1070869512457805824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Not a bad career for a former two star player from the recruiting services. Allen was heading to Monmouth to play before Coach\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/mark-stoops-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Stoops <\/a> and the staff saw something in him offering him a scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>As it stands now they couldn&#8217;t have been more correct as he turned out to be a true diamond in the rough. In addition it gives more credence the recruiting services aren&#8217;t always correct. Congratulations again to Josh Allen on becoming the 24th winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award. Stay with <strong>Last Word On College Football<\/strong> as we get you ready for the Wildcat&#8217;s game against Penn State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a season of rewriting history for the Kentucky Football team a little more was made on Thursday night. Senior linebacker\u00a0Josh Allen wins the Bednarik Award as the nation&#8217;s best defensive player. Josh Allen Wins The Bednarik Award Allen won the award over Alabama defensive tackle\u00a0Quinnen Williams and Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The award [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":19191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[4035,184,2224,1353,1766,21,3579],"class_list":["post-19183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sec","tag-bronko-nagurski-award","tag-cfb","tag-christian-wilkins","tag-chuck-bednarik-award","tag-josh-allen","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-quinnen-williams"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}