DALLAS (FWAA) – Auburn safety Eric Winters made a game-saving tackle on a two-point conversion attempt, stopping a Baylor receiver inches away from the goal line in the final 10 seconds to preserve the Tigers’ 17-16 win Saturday. His career day in just his second start has Winters selected as the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week 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 2026 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 19. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2026 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 7 at the Charlotte Convention Center, and the winner will also be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards live on ESPN on Dec. 11.
Players may be added or removed from the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list during the course of the season. As in previous years, the FWAA will announce a National Defensive Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week’s honored player - including Winters this week - will be added at that time.
Winters had a banner day in Auburn’s season opener, setting career highs with 11 total tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss. Fans will long remember, this season and perhaps beyond, his final tackle in the game. Baylor had just scored to trail 17-16 with nine seconds left and elected to try a two-point conversion and the win. On the conversion try, Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway found tight end Matthew Klopfenstein off the right side at the 1-yard, but Winters made an immediate hit after the reception, not allowing Klopfenstein to turn and advance the ball or lean over the goal line. The play withstood a short review, sealing the win.
“We were prepared for it,” Winters said following the game. “Once I saw him go, I went too. As soon as he caught the ball, I wrapped him up.”
The 6-foot, 219-pound sophomore from Enterprise, Ala., made just his second career start at safety and made an immediate impact, notching the first forced fumble of his young career on Baylor’s first possession. Winters is the first Auburn defensive back with 11 or more tackles and 2.0 or more tackles for loss since Jeremiah Dinson in the 2019 season opening win over Oregon.
Auburn has now won 10 consecutive season openers and is 19-2 in openers since 2006.
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 trophy winner will be chosen from the four 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 nearly 1,000 recipients since 1935. Visit NCFAA.org for more information 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 1,200 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.