UT, Vanderbilt players on list for top defensive award

Tennessee’s Eric Berry and Vanderbilt’s Myron Lewis are among the 62 players named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list, the Football Writers Association of America announced Tuesday.

The Nakurski Trophy is presented annually to the top defensive player in the country.

Berry’s and Lewis’ respective presences on the watch list are not their first this summer. Both also are on the watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award, which recognizes the top defensive back, and Berry is unofficially considered an early Heisman Trophy candidate.

Berry, a junior safety, is one of six former All-Americans on the list for the Nagurski Trophy.