Senior defensive end Joe Clermond was one of 49 players named to the Watch List for the 2007 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, annually presented to the top defensive player in college football. The Football Writers Association of America makes the list and eventually decides the winner from their 11-player All-America defensive team.
Clermond (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain) returns for his final collegiate season as one of the Big East Conference’s elite defensive ends. Last year he paced the conference and ranked 15th nationally with an average of 1.38 tackles for loss per game (16.5 total). Clermond had at least one TFL in seven consecutive games to close the year and in 10 of 12 games overall.
Clermond is going to be the best player on a defense that will likely end up being a giant train wreck. Mostly because of coaching, we were able to have stars like Revis and Blades and still have a poor defense. It’s a good honor for Clermond to have his name on this list and it should help him get his name out to more people and possibly get noticed by more and more NFL scouts.