Philadelphia, Pa.----- San José State University defensive lineman Cade Hall is one of 90 players listed on the 2021 Bednarik Award watch list presented by the Maxwell Football Club.
The Bednarik Award is awarded to college football's outstanding defensive player of the year and is named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame standout Chuck Bednarik. Known as the "60-Minute Man," Bednarik played his college football at the University of Pennsylvania and professionally for the Philadelphia Eagles (1949-62).
Hall is coming off an All-America season in 2020 in which he finished second nationally among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players in quarterback sacks per game with 10.0 in seven contests and was 12th nationally with 12.0 tackles for loss. He had a quarterback sack in five of the seven games he played igniting a San José State defense that yielded 19.9 points a game, the first time since 1990 teams averaged fewer than 20.0 points a game in a season against the Spartans.
San José State won the 2020 Mountain West championship and was ranked 24th nationally in the final Associated Press poll finishing with a 7-1 win-loss record.
The Sporting News named Hall a first-team All-America and he received second-team recognition from the Walter Camp Football Foundation and USA Today. He was the 2020 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and his 2.0 quarterback sacks in the conference's championship contest against Boise State earned him the game's Defensive Most Valuable Player award.
The 2021 season marks the fourth season for the 6-foot-3, 270-pound Hall as a Spartan.
From the 90 players listed on the watch list, semifinalists will be announced on November 1. Three finalists will be named on November 22. This year's winner will be presented on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 9. The formal presentation of the 2021 Bednarik Award will occur on March 11, 2022 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Season tickets for the 2021 San Jose State University football six-game home schedule beginning with Southern Utah on August 28 are available by visiting https://am.ticketmaster.com/sjsuathletics/21football or by calling 408-924-7589.