DALLAS (FWAA) – Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown produced one of the highlight plays of this past weekend’s games, intercepting a Tennessee pass intended for the Crimson Tide end zone and taking it back 99 yards for a touchdown, a back-breaking pick-six in the final moments of the first half in its 37-20 win over the Vols. That play, plus his pass coverage that allowed only 16 yards, earned Brown the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for the weekend of Oct. 18 by the Football Writers Association of America.
Each week during the regular season, the FWAA has selected a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week since 2001. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2025 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 20. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2025 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 8 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
Players may be added or removed from the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list during the season. If a player isn’t already on the preseason watch list, including Brown this week, each week’s honored player is added at that time.
Brown had perhaps the top game of his career Saturday. The 6-0, 192-pound sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., totaled 57 coverage snaps and posted a career-high seven tackles in the home win. But it was his interception that turned the flow of the game and could be seen as one of the season’s most important plays as Alabama (6-1, 4-0 in the SEC) pursues another trip to the College Football Playoff.
Alabama led 16-7 late in the second quarter as Tennessee threatened to cut into the lead. Facing second-and-goal at the Bama one-yard line with the clock stopped at eight seconds, Tennessee threw a pass to the right side toward the end zone. Brown jumped into the throw’s path in front of the pylon and ran 99 yards the other way for a gut-punch touchdown as the first-half clock expired, setting the sellout Tuscaloosa crowd into a frenzy.
The interception return is the second-longest return for a touchdown in program history and helped Brown account for the third-most interception return yards in Alabama single-game history. It was the Crimson Tide’s first pick-six since 2023.
Brown earned a starting role at cornerback last season as a freshman and has continued his fine play this season. He is tied for 11th on the team with 12 total tackles and has three pass breakups.
Alabama has had three Bronko Nagurski Trophy winners in its past, most recently from linebacker Will Anderson Jr., who won the award in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and '22. Defensive end Jonathan Allen won it in 2016. The Crimson Tide have had 12 finalists going back to 1993.
The Crimson Tide travel to South Carolina on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff as they continue their SEC schedule. ABC will televise the game. They have a week off following that game as they prepare for their annual tilt against LSU on Nov. 8.
The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association’s full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalists. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will be chosen from the finalists named in November. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.
The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw "Bronko" Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored more than 950 recipients since 1935. This season, 13 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit NCFAA.org or follow on X at @NCFAA.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, North Carolina region. Since its inception, the club has grown as well as diversified boasting a sponsor team of more than (80) companies. The Club's activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding Citizenship, Scholarship, Sportsmanship, and Leadership of area athletes and coaches. Through individual and corporate support, more than $3,000,000 has been raised and donated to benefit the Touchdown Club's scholarship efforts.
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Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,300 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.