Badgers defender being considered for award for Top Defensive Player in nation

The Wisconsin Badgers are bowl-eligible at 6-3 after their win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday, as their offense and defense saw high degrees of success.

The Badgers put up 363 yards of offense, with true freshman Ryan Hopkins shining in his first career start. Defensively, they held Rutgers to 4 of 13 on third downs, allowing just 10 points on a good defensive day overall.

Naturally, when you look at the box score on defense, there has been one name regularly at the top this season: Cooper Catalano. The true sophomore racked up 14 more tackles, while adding 2.5 tackles for loss in the win for Wisconsin.

This season, Catalano is now seventh in the FBS with 89 tackles. He leads all Big Ten defenders in the category, while Mason Posa is fourth in the conference with 73. Catalano also has four pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Well, on Monday, the Badgers announced that Catalano has been added to the Chuck Bednarik Award Watchlist, given to the top defender in the country annually. Mason Posa was on the preseason watchlist for the award, and now Catalano is on the current watchlist.

Catalano has evolved into one of the best players in the country this season. He’s got a natural knack for finding the football, playing with elite-level instincts and a willingness to tackle. He’s topped 10+ tackles in three straight games for the Badgers, and is averaging just under 10 a game this season.