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Indiana Defensive End Mikail Kamara Named Bednarik Award Semifinalist

Mikial Kamara Named Chuck Bednarik Award Semifinalist
Honor Goes To Nation’s Outstanding Defensive Player

By Donovan James

Indiana's Mikail Kamara (6) celebraters during the Indiana versus Michigan football game at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 9, 2024.
Indiana's Mikail Kamara (6) celebraters during the Indiana versus Michigan football game at Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 9, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Indiana Hoosiers junior defensive end Mikial Kamara has been named a semifinalist for the 30th Bednarik Award semifinalist, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Tuesday.

One of the most prestigious awards in college football, the Bednarik Award is given annually to college football's most outstanding defensive player.

The Maxwell Football Club and Walter Camp Football Foundation each named the Indiana defensive lineman as its National Defensive Player of the Week last weekend after his performance against Michigan State.

Kamara leads the Big Ten and is tied for No. 6 nationally in sacks (9.5) and is No. 2 in the B1G and No. 4 nationally in tackles for loss (14.5) in 2024. Kamara has 55 total pressures which leads the nation per Pro Football Focus. He has multiple tackles in nine of 10 games with at least 1.0 tackle for loss in eight of 10 games with a sack in seven games this season.

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 at Penn and went on to an All-Pro career with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Finalists for the 30th Bednarik Award will be announced on Nov. 26, 2024 and the winner will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Dec. 12, 2024.

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