Florida football: Brenton Cox Jr. is a dark horse for the Bednarik Award

As preseason watchlists continue to be released, Florida football players are finding themselves being honored with a spot on these lists.

The latest Gator to make a list was Brenton Cox Jr., who was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watchlist, an award that honors the top defensive player in college football.

Cox was the only Gator to make the list, and 1 of 3 players from the state of Florida to make the cut. Some notable winners from the past few years include Jordan Davis (2021), Chase Young (2019), and Josh Allen (2018).

While he won’t be a pre-season favorite to win the award, he absolutely has the potential to break through and become a household name this season.

Here’s why Brenton Cox is a dark horse to win the Chuck Bednarik Award.

Freak Athleticism

At 6’3”-252, Cox has great size to be an elite edge rusher and outside linebacker. He has great range, and the strength to grab a ball carrier with just one arm and bring him down.

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He has good quickness to go along with his strength, and if he combines both elements into his pass rushing, he can become unblockable.

Everything will be better defensively

The Gator defense last year was abysmal. Nobody is arguing that. In that system, Cox was still able to post 41 tackles and 8.5 sacks, to go along with a forced fumble.

This year, there is a different type of energy around the entire Florida football team, but more specifically the defense. Sean Spencer, co-defensive coordinator, has a great reputation for getting his defenses to tap into another gear and fly around the field.

With guys like Gervon Dexter and Princely Umanmielen also on the field, opposing offenses can’t just focus on one guy and shut down the pass rush. With multiple guys who can get to the QB, Cox will be in 1 v 1 matchups often, giving him plenty of opportunities to wreak havoc in the backfield.

With a good secondary behind them, and less open receivers, Cox will also have more time to get to the QB before the ball leaves their hand.

Everything is setting up for Cox to get plenty of play making chances week in and week out.

Possible obstacles

One thing that may stop Cox from putting up Bednarik-worthy numbers isn’t actually a bad thing: the Gators are so deep in the trenches that the other guys on the D-line may steal sacks and tackles from him.

Hopefully, the little competitions within the DL room drive all the guys, Cox especially, to play even better and put up better numbers.

Cox may also need to work on his motor if he wants to take home the award. There’s no doubt that he plays hard, but there were a few instances last season where it seemed he was taking some plays off, and didn’t do all he could to make a tackle.

Now this may have been a consequence of a poor culture around the program, but it is still something that Brenton will need to eliminate to be a candidate for the Bednarik Award.

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