Tulane senior defensive lineman Patrick Jenkins has been named to the 2024 Bednarik Award Watch List, the organization announced.

This is the fourth preseason watch list that Jenkins has made as he is also a candidate for the Outland Trophy, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Wuerffel Trophy.

The Bednarik Award has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1994 and is named in honor of Chuck "Concrete Charlie" Bednarik who was an All-American player at the University of Pennsylvania and later a multiple year All Pro linebacker and center for the Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame and was the last NFL player to be a full-time player on both offense and defense.

The full list consists of 90 of the best defensive players in the country. Jenkins is one of four players from the American Athletic Conference that was named. Six conferences are represented in the SEC (21), AAC (19), Big 10 (19), Big 12 (13), AAC (4) and MAC (4), Mountain West (3) and Sun Belt (3). There are also three independents who have candidates.

The Maxwell Football Club has once again partnered with Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as selection partners. PFF provides detailed metrics and performance-based assessments to selection committee staff, with several PFF analyst are members of our selections committee. Phil Steele's Football Preview is generally recognized as the most complete preseason magazine.

Semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced November 12, 2024, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled November 26, 2024. The winners of the 30thh Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced on part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Award Show held on December 12, 2024. The format presentation of the Chuck Bednarik Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on Friday, March 13, 2024 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia,

Jenkins played and started all 14 games on the defensive line for Tulane in 2023. He totaled 35 tackles, a team-leading 11.5 stops for loss and 5.5 sacks. He was a First Team All-AAC by the conference.

Tulane's football team was chosen for third in the AAC Preseason Media Poll with 362 points plus two first-place votes at the annual conference media day.

This season, Tulane brings back three of the team's five starters on the offensive line (Shadre Hurst, Josh Remetich, Rashad Green), the leading rusher in the conference (Makhi Hughes), two of the team's top four receivers (Alex Bauman, Yulkeith Brown), the team's punter (Will Karoll) and long snapper (Ethan Hudak), the team's top three tacklers (Jesus Machado, Tyler Grubbs and Bailey Despanie) and three of the six leading defensive players in tackles for loss (Jenkins, Grubbs and Kameron Hamilton).

Tulane finished the 2023 season with a mark of 11-3 and a perfect 8-0 record in the American Athletic Conference. The program concluded the campaign with the 16th bowl appearance at the GoBowling Military Bowl contest against Virginia Tech. It was the fifth time in the last six years that Tulane has appeared in a bowl game. The team is 23-5 over the last two seasons.

The school announced the hiring of Jon Sumrall as the 42nd head coach of the team on December 8, 2023. The Huntsville, Alabama native was one of the most successful head coaches in the country the last two seasons.

He guided Troy University to a 23-4 record, two Sun Belt Conference championships and a pair of double-digit winning streaks. He was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of Year and was twice named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year honor. Sumrall returns to Tulane after serving as the Green Wave's Co-Defensive Coordinator for three years (2012-14). In 2013, he was a crucial part of Tulane's run to the New Orleans Bowl, the program's first postseason appearance since 2002 and third since 1988. Sumrall also was named a finalist for FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year.

Tulane's football team will start the 2024 season on Thursday, August 29, with a home contest against Southeastern Louisiana at Yulman Stadium at 7 p.m. The program has home games against Kansas State (September 7), South Florida (September 28), Rice (October 19), Temple (November 9) and Memphis (November 28). The road games for the 2024 season include trips to Oklahoma (September 14), Louisiana (September 21), UAB (October 5), North Texas (October 26), Charlotte (October 31) and Navy (November 16).