Brown and Rolle named to Nagurski Watch List

Dallas, TX – Florida State defensive end Everette Brown and rover Myron Rolle have been named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list, given to the best defensive player in college football. This is the first national award watch list for Brown and the second for Rolle. Last month Rolle was one of 42 collegiate players on the initial watch list for the 2008 Lott Trophy.




Brown was Florida State's starter at the left defensive end position where he earned a career-high eight starting assignments in 2007 and he has played in 26 consecutive games in his first two seasons as a Seminole. Last season the North Carolina native led the team in sacks, led all defensive linemen in tackles and tackles for loss. Brown totaled a single-season career-high 37 tackles, a single-season career-high six and a half quarterback sacks and 11.5 tackles for minus yardage.


In his first season as a starter Brown more than doubled his sack total from his freshman season. The speed rush end now has 25 career tackles for minus yardage to rank 15th in school history with two seasons remaining in his collegiate playing career. He has tackles for minus yardage in 15 of his 26 career games and Brown has more career tackles for loss than any current Seminole. Brown already has 9.5 quarterback sacks in his first two seasons and will undoubtedly move into Florida State's all-time top-10 for career sacks before his career in Tallahassee is over.


Rolle, a rising junior, started all 13 games for the Seminoles in 2007 and has started 23 consecutive games entering the 2008 season. Rolle was one of only five Seminole players on the defensive side of the ball who started at the same position in all 13 regular season games. He was fourth on the team in tackles with 67 and has 144 total tackles in the first two seasons of his career. Last year he set his single-season career-high with 36 unassisted tackles.


The New Jersey native recorded at least five tackles in nine of his 13 games played and he was tied for third on the team with eight tackles in the Music City Bowl. In that bowl game, Rolle forced the first fumble of his career and it was returned for 52 yards by Tony Carter and set up an FSU TD, which tied the game at 14-14.


The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner from the association's 11-man All-America defensive team in November. The watch list was developed by the FWAA All-America committee with the help of the schools and conferences.


The Charlotte Touchdown Club will hold the 2008 banquet on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. For the eighth straight season, the FWAA will also pick a Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week beginning with games on Aug. 30 and running through the middle of November. And a Bronko Nagurski Legends Award winner will also be selected from the FWAA's 1967 All-America team.


The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been presented since 1993 and is awarded in memory of the legendary Nagurski, a former All-America lineman at Minnesota in 1927-29 and a star for professional football's Chicago Bears in the 1930s.


The 2007 Nagurski Trophy winner, LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, was selected No. 5 overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2008 NFL Draft. The two other 2007 Nagurski finalists also fared well in the NFL Draft: Virginia end Chris Long went No. 2 overall to the St. Louis Rams and Kansas defensive back Aqib Talib was the No. 20 overall selection by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.


The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, N.C. region. The club's activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding citizenship, scholarship, sportsmanship, and leadership of area athletes and coaches. For more information, contact John Rocco (704-347-2918 or [e-mail]). The official website of the Charlotte Touchdown Club is www.touchdownclub.com.


For more information on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, contact FWAA executive director Steve Richardson (972-713-6198 or [e-mail]).