PHILADELPHIA – No. 7 Texas Football senior defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat was named a semifinalist for the 2023 Chuck Bednarik Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday. The Bednarik Award has been presented annually to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995.
Sweat, a native of Huntsville, Texas, has played in all 10 games with five starts for the Longhorns this season. He has established career highs with 35 tackles, 15 solo tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and two sacks while also breaking up two passes. Sweat has been at the forefront of Texas’ stellar defensive line, helping the Longhorns hold six opponents to fewer the 100 yards rushing this season, including each of the last four games. Sweat and the Texas defense rank eighth in the nation and lead the Big 12 Conference, yielding only 90.1 rushing yards per game. Texas also leads the Big 12 in red zone defense (0.667) and third-down defense (0.265), ranking second and third in the nation, respectively, and tops the conference in scoring defense (18.4 ppg).
Semifinalist voting for award presented by the Maxwell Football Club will begin on Wednesday Nov. 14 and will close on Nov. 26. Three finalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 28 and a finalist round of voting will take place at that time. Eligible voters include Maxwell Football Club members, NCAA head football coaches, sports information directors and selected national media.
The winner of the 29th Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show which will be broadcast live on ESPN on Friday December 8, 2023. The formal presentation of the Chuck Bednarik Award will take place at the 87th Maxwell Awards Gala which will be held on Friday March 8, 2024.