Mississippi State junior cornerback Emmanuel Forbes has been named to the watch list for the 28th Chuck Bednarik Award, which is presented annually to the outstanding defensive player in college football.
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.
In 2021, Forbes started all 13 games for the Bulldogs and totaled 60 tackles on the season, including 46 solo stops. He tallied 5.0 tackles for loss with one sack and led the team with three interceptions returned for a total of 33 yards. As a sophomore, Forbes led the State defense with five pass breakups while he also forced one fumble on the campaign.
The Bednarik Award watch list will once again incorporate a broad spectrum of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and conferences from coast to coast, led by Will Anderson Jr. (Alabama) who is the lone returning finalist from 2021, as the majority of this year’s candidate group features fresh faces. The full list consists of 90 players across college football.
Semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award will be announced Nov. 1, 2022, while the three finalists for the Bednarik Award will be unveiled Nov. 22, 2022. The winners of the 28th Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 8, 2022. The formal presentations of the award will be made at the 86th Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala live from Atlantic City, N.J., on March 10, 2023.
Men’s tennis releases fall schedule
Mississippi State men’s tennis team is gearing up in an attempt to make its 12th consecutive bid to the NCAA Championship later this season.
But before the Bulldogs hit the courts for dual-match play in the spring, they have scheduled a challenging fall slate of five events in an effort to have several players qualify for ITA Fall Nationals in San Diego, California in November.
Selected players from MSU will open the fall in Fayetteville, Arkansas for an ITF 15K tournament from Sept. 18-25. From there, the Bulldogs travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take part in the ITA All-Americans Oct. 1-9 and then head onto Tuscaloosa, Alabama for ITA Southern Regionals Oct. 13-18.
Individual student-athletes will also participate in another ITF 15K event in Tallahassee, Florida from Oct. 23-30 and return to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 4-6 for the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
“With most of our lineup having ATP points, we plan to offer them numerous ITF Futures this fall to allow them to increase their rankings,” said Matt Roberts, who is entering his ninth season as head coach. “We’ll combine the ITF Futures with three important college events. Our goal is for the guys to qualify for nationals by doing well in Tulsa at the All-American or our regionals.”
State has four players returning from last season including All-SEC selection Nemanja Malesevic, who led the team with an 18-7 singles record last spring and seven victories over ranked opponents. Joining Malesevic are four-year letterwinner Gregor Ramskogler, rising junior Carles Hernandez and redshirt sophomore Seth Richey.
Roberts and assistant coach Jake Jacoby will also use the fall as a time to get acquainted with four new Bulldogs that will be joining the roster this month. Mississippi State signed Ewen Lumsden and Patrick Lazo as graduate transfers from Washington and Georgia State respectively.
The Bulldogs also brought in freshmen Petar Jovanovic from Montenegro and Benito Sanchez Martinez of Germany as members of the 2022 signing class.
“We’re going to get to know their games in the fall and to put together a plan of what we need to do help them make the jump in their development,” Roberts said. “It’s a pretty exciting group we have coming in. I’m really excited about them and think we’re going to have a close team with really good team chemistry. Everybody is here for the right reasons and wanting to develop into pros.”
Men’s golf schedule announced
Next month, Mississippi State’s men’s golf program will begin its pursuit of a fifth NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Dusty Smith. The Bulldogs revealed the fall portion of their schedule on Monday, with the first of four tournaments beginning on Sept. 7.
“It’s always our goal to play a challenging schedule against great competition and to test our game on courses that will prepare us for championship season,” Smith said. “I feel this schedule allows us to do just that. We look forward to starting this journey.”
State opens the season at the Frederica Cup, hosted by Vanderbilt in Sea Island, Georgia. Sea Island is also the annual home of the SEC Men’s Golf Tournament, though that event is played on a different course. The Bulldogs will play three rounds of stroke play at Frederica Golf Club over the two-day event.
MSU then turns its focus to its conference foes. After the success of last year’s SEC Match Play event, the league is holding the SEC Fall Preview on Sept. 25-27 at Old Overton Club in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the same course that annually holds the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate, which graduate student Ford Clegg won in 2020.
State returns to Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Blessings Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 3-5. The event will be broadcast live on the GOLF Channel from 3:30-6:30 p.m. CT each day. The Bulldog men and the Bulldog women will compete side-by-side on the same course. Both programs played in the inaugural event in 2020, with the men finishing ninth.
To conclude the fall, MSU will travel to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Daniel Island Intercollegiate on the Ralston Creek Course at Daniel Island Golf Club. The final fall event was first hosted by Charleston Southern in 2021.
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