Wisconsin Football: Sanborn named to Bednarik Watch List

The Chuck Bednarik Watch List has been released and there is a Wisconsin football player on the list. Senior linebacker Jack Sanborn returned to Madison for one final season and has appeared on the Chuck Bednarik Watch List, the award for the nation’s best defensive player.

The Chuck Bednarik Award has been around since 1995. The winner of the award the first two years was Northwestern linebacker, and now each coach, Pat Fitzgerald, won the award both in 1995 and 1996.

No Wisconsin football player has won the Bednarik or even been named a finalist for the award. But there have been multiple players in the past who have made the semi-finalist list. O’Brien Schofield (2009), J.J. Watt (2010), and Zack Baun (2019) have all be semi-finalists for the award but never broke into the top three. Jack Sanborn, while definitely not the favorite, could become the first Badger to win the award.

Last season, due to the shortened season, the Wisconsin football team played in just seven games. Sanborn tallied 52 total tackles, including 14 at Northwestern in a 17-7 loss in November. He also added one sack, one forced fumble, and an interception during the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Wake Forest.

He finished 18th in the Big Ten conference in total tackles, 12th in solo tackles, and 20th in tackles per game, with 7.4. These stats may not pop off the page like some other players on the watch list, but Sanborn is the leader of one of the best defenses in the country.

In a hopefully more normal upcoming season in 2021, Sanborn is in a great position to produce some big numbers for the Badgers. It also helps to have a guy like Leo Chenal lining up next to him as well. Together Sanborn and Chenal create what is possibly the best linebacking duo in the Big Ten Conference.