Notre Dame Football: Book, Kareem and Okwara Named to Award Watch Lists

Three Notre Dame Fighting Irish seniors were named Monday to two preseason award watch lists: Ian Book to the Maxwell and Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara to the Bednarik.

Notre Dame players have won the Maxwell seven times: Leon Hart in 1949, Johnny Lattner in 1952 & 1953, Jim Lynch in 1966, Ross Browner in 1977, Brady Quinn in 2006 and Manti Te’o in 2012. While Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush was named to the preseason watch list last year, Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took home the hardware.

The complete Maxwell Award watch list is here.

The Bednarik Award has only been awarded since 1995. Te’o is Notre Dame’s sole recipient, winning that in 2012. Kentucky Wildcats’ Josh Allen was last year’s winner, while former Irish defensive tackle Jerry Tillery and linebacker Te’von Coney were put on the preseason watch list.

The complete Bednarik Award watch list is here.

The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award watch list will be released this afternoon. Wimbush was not included on last year’s preseason watch list, which included 26 signal-callers.

A Notre Dame quarterback has never won the Davey O’Brien. The Oklahoma Sooners’ Kyler Murray won the award last year.