When the Maxwell Club announced its watch lists for both the Maxwell Award and the Bednarik Award, Christian Wilkins found his name on both lists.
The senior defensive tackle was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award as a sophomore in 2016 and won the Willis Award as the outstanding defensive lineman in college football in 2017. He also became the program’s first multi-year first-team All-American since Vic Beasley in 2013-14.
In his three seasons at Clemson, he has played in 44 games with the Tigers winning 40 of them, including three ACC Championships, three College Football Playoff appearances and a national championship.
Wilkins has 193 career tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, 43 quarterback pressures and 14 pass deflections, a record for a Clemson defensive lineman.
Joining Wilkins on the watch list for the Maxwell Award are quarterback Kelly Bryant and running back Travis Etienne. Bryant is the returning starter at quarterback and last season, went from a question mark to the outside world to a big reason why the Tigers advanced to the college football playoff. Etienne provided some big-play ability at running back for the Tigers as a freshman i.e. the 81-yard touchdown against Louisville.
For the Bednarik Award, three Tigers are up for the award which goes to the defensive player of the year - Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence and Clelin Ferrell.
Lawrence is a junior from Wake Forest, N.C. who was a second-team All-American by Rivals.com last year and is a two-time All-ACC selection. He was a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award last year, and was a unanimous freshman All-American in 2016 when Clemson won the National Championship.
Lawrence has played in 27 games with the Tigers, 23 as a starter, and has 118 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss , including 9.5 sacks and 28 quarterback pressures. Clemson is 24-3 in the games he has played over the last two years.
Ferrell, who might be the most NFL-ready of the Tigers' defensive lineman right now, is coming off a season where he had 18 tackles for loss for 80 yards. He also had 63 tackles for the year with 9½ sacks.
