Brock And Carder Add To Preseason Accolades
7/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 8, 2011
DALLAS -- TCU linebackers Tanner Brock and Tank Carder are included on the preseason watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy.
Presented annually by the Football Writers Association of America and the Charlotte Touchdown Club, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy honors the nation's best defensive player.
Former Horned Frog All-America defensive end Jerry Hughes was a Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalist in both 2008 and 2009.
Brock and Carder were both included earlier this week on the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, also recognizing the top defensive player in the country.
Brock and Carder received All-America accolades last season. Carder was also the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year and the Rose Bowl's Defensive Most Valuable Player.
Brock led TCU last season with 106 tackles, 26 more than the next-closest Horned Frog (Colin Jones, 80). Brock was just the second TCU player (Daryl Washington, 109, 2009) to reach 100 stops in a season since 2004.
A junior from Copperas Cove, Texas, Brock was the MWC Defensive Player of the Week after recording a career-high 12 tackles and an interception with a 57-yard return in TCU's 47-7 win at Utah. He added nine stops in the Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin.
Brock's 138 career tackles are the most by a Horned Frog in his first two seasons since fellow linebacker Jason Phillips totaled 144 in the 2005-06 campaigns.
A senior from Sweeny, Texas, Carder posted 60 tackles in 2010, including 9 1/2 for loss. He totaled 3 1/2 sacks, five pass breakups and an interception.
In the 21-19 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin, Carder broke up the Badgers' potential game-tying 2-point pass with exactly two minutes to play. He totaled six tackles in the contest, including three for loss with a sack.
