UCLA Football: Not many Bruins are showing up on award watch lists

The UCLA football team does not have a lot of players being named to preseason award watch lists. Is this a concern or an issue with several Bruins getting over looked?

So far this preseason, only two members of the UCLA football team have been named to award watch lists. Defensive back Adarius Pickett was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy list and long snapper Johnny Den Bleyker to the David Binn Award list.

Though we should never devalue the limited number of achievements, it says something about those that have not been named to other award watch lists.

But what exactly does it say? Is it that UCLA does not have any top-tier players or UCLA’s players are getting over looked?

Is it that UCLA does not have any top-tier players or UCLA’s players are getting over looked?

Let us face it, preseason award watch lists, like preseason polls, do not mean a thing except to recognize players and teams that could have a chance to tops at the end of the season. But during said season, anything can happen, like a player emerging out of no where to be the one of the best players in the country at his position.

And also remember, all of this is opinion-based, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes opinions either completely miss out on certain players or omit them completely. For example, let us take the Bednarik Award (released today), which honors the top defensive player in the nation. Not a single Bruin made the list. Interesting as not even Pickett, who made the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list, was no where to be seen.

UCLA’s defense could be the strength of this team come fall (at least in Year 1) and they have a lot of talent which will standout. Jaelan Phillips, Keisean Lucier-South, Josh Woods, Nate Meadors, Darnay Holmes and Pickett are just a few players that have shown that they can be elite. What is even better is that all of that will be knocked up a notch this year with the defensive staff Chip Kelly has assembled.

With another week and a day of award watch lists, there should be a few Bruins that make a few lists. I actually expect Meadors, Holmes and Pickett (at the very least, one of them) to be named to the Jim Thorpe Award (best DB in the nation), which will be announced on Monday, July 23. Caleb Wilson should be another Bruin to make a list watch for his name on Friday, July 20 when the John Mackey Award (top tight end in the nation) watch list is released.

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Still, it is a bit peculiar that no other Bruin has yet to be named to a watch list so far.

But honestly, this might have something to do with the perception of UCLA (which has not been great the last two seasons) as most analysts might believe that the Bruins do not have any playmakers. If Josh Rosen was still around, there is no doubt that he would have been named to a list, but what about the other Bruins?

Still, a lot of people might be sleeping on UCLA and their players because they do not actually know what is going to happen with the Bruins in Kelly’s first season. Either way, Kelly knows how to develop players and we should expect several to make a big impact this season.

Hopefully a handful make it to the All-Pac-12 teams at season’s end as well as become finalists for these awards. But that will come in time.

Next: The 30 Greatest UCLA Football Players of All-Time

Lastly, if Caleb Wilson does not make the John Mackey Award watch list, then it might be time to riot. Go Bruins!