Georgia Tech junior among 85 preseason candidates for national defensive player-of-the-year honor
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech junior defensive back LaMiles Brooks (Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Academy) is on the official watch list for the 2023 Chuck Bednarik Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday. The Bednarik Award is presented annually to college football’s most outstanding defensive player.
Brooks is coming off an exemplary sophomore campaign, in which he racked up three interceptions (third in the Atlantic Coast Conference), 10 passes defended (12th in the ACC) and 52 tackles (tops among Georgia Tech defensive backs, fourth on the team overall). He was graded as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s No. 3-ranked safety by Pro Football Focus in his first season as a starter, earning all-America grades (80 or higher) from PFF in both pass coverage (86.8) and overall defense (81.5).
He turned in one of the nation’s finest defensive performances of last season against Virginia (Oct. 20), when he recorded a career-high nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and two pass breakups to go along with a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown and a fumble recovery, becoming one of only 16 NCAA Division I FBS players since 2000 with as many nine tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception return for a touchdown in the same game. He also helped spur the Yellow Jackets’ 21-17 win at No. 13 North Carolina (Nov. 19) with an interception of UNC all-American Drake Maye, which snapped Maye’s string of consecutive passes without an INT at 195, stalled a UNC drive inside its red zone and set up what proved to be the Jackets’ game-winning touchdown drive.
Semifinalists for the 2023 Bednarik Award will be announced on Nov. 13, followed by the selection of three finalists on Nov. 28. The winner of the 29th-annual Bednarik Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Dec. 7, and the formal presentation of the award will be made in March in Philadelphia.
Brooks and the Yellow Jackets open the 2023 campaign on Friday, Sept. 1 when the host Atlantic Coast Conference rival Louisville in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
