Johnson named to initial Buchanan watch list
7/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 19, 2011
University of Montana senior cornerback Trumaine Johnson has been named to The Sports Network's initial 20-player watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award. The annual award, which has been handed out since 1995, is given to the Football Championship Subdivision's top defensive player.
Eastern Washington linebacker J.C. Sherritt won the award last season, giving the Big Sky Conference three of the four most recent winners and four of the 16 winners since Dexter Coakley of Appalachian State won the first Buchanan Award in 1995.
Montana defensive end Kroy Biermann won the award in 2007. He remains the Grizzlies' only winner.
Johnson was named to the initial watch list last season as well and finished 20th in last winter's final voting, picking up a pair of third-place votes.
Johnson and the other defensive backs in the running for the award face the long odds inherent in their position. The better they are at shutting down the opponent's top receiver, the fewer opportunities they have during games to generate the type of numbers that might catch the voters' notice.
Rashean Mathis of Bethune-Cookman is the only cornerback to win the award in its history. He won in 2002.
Linebackers have won the award eight times, defensive ends six times and defensive tackles once.
Five players from the Big Sky Conference made the initial watch list. Johnson was joined by Eastern Washington defensive tackle Renard Williams and safety Matt Johnson, Idaho State linebacker A.J. Storms and Sacramento State defensive end Zack Nash, who was named the Big Sky's preseason Defensive Player of the Year Monday.
Eastern Washington had both the 2008 winner - defensive end Greg Peach - and last season's winner in Sherritt. Only Cal Poly, with Jordan Beck in 2004, Chris Gocong in 2005 and Kyle Shotwell in 2006, has had more winners.
Johnson enters his senior season with 13 career interceptions, which is tied for fourth on the Montana career list with Blaine McElmurray.
Johnson was an honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection as a freshman and earned first-team All-BSC honors in both 2009 and 2010.
He was named to the AFCA and Walter Camp all-America teams as a junior after a season with 44 tackles, four interceptions and seven passes broken up.
Johnson is one of six players on the initial watch list who finished in the top 20 in the voting a year ago.
Wofford senior defensive end Ameet Pall tied for second in the voting last season. New Hampshire junior linebacker Matt Evans was fourth, Massachusetts senior linebacker Tyler Holmes was fifth, San Diego senior defensive end Mario Kurn was sixth, and Georgia Southern junior nose tackle Brent Russell was 12th.
The watch list has six linebackers, five defensive ends, five cornerbacks, three defensive tackles and one safety.
The Buck Buchanan Award will be presented at the FCS's national awards banquet Thursday, Jan. 5, in Frisco, Texas.
The award is named for Junious "Buck" Buchanan, an all-America defensive lineman at Grambling in the early 60s and a 1990 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Buchanan died of lung cancer in 1992 at the age of 51.
2011 Preseason Buck Buchanan Watch List
Kadarron Anderson (LB, Furman)
Ben Boothby (DT, Northern Iowa)
Jeremy Caldwell (CB, Eastern Kentucky)
Moses Ellis (CB, Prairie View A&M)
Matt Evans (LB, New Hampshire)
Tyler Holmes (LB Massachusetts)
Asa Jackson (CB, Cal Poly)
Matt Johnson (S, Eastern Washington)
Trumaine Johnson (CB, Montana)
Mario Kurn (DE, San Diego)
Brian McNally (DE, New Hampshire)
Zack Nash (DE, Sacramento State)
Ben Obaseki (DE Indiana State)
Ameet Pall (DE, Wofford)
Keith Pough (LB, Howard)
Derek Rose (LB, Northwestern State)
Brent Russell (DT, Georgia Southern)
Ryan Steed (CB, Furman)
A.J. Storms (LB, Idaho State)
Renard Williams (DT, Eastern Washington)
Past Buck Buchanan Award Winners
1995 ... Dexter Coakley (LB, Appalachian State)
1996 ... Dexter Coakley (LB, Appalachian State)
1997 ... Chris McNeil (DE, North Carolina A&T)
1998 ... James Milton (LB, Western Illinois)
1999 ... Al Lucas (DT, Troy)
2000 ... Edgerton Hartwell (LB, Western Illinois)
2001 ... Derrick Lloyd (LB, James Madison)
2002 ... Rashean Mathis (CB, Bethune-Cookman)
2003 ... Jared Allen (DE, Idaho State)
2004 ... Jordan Beck (LB, Cal Poly)
2005 ... Chris Gocong (DE, Cal Poly)
2006 ... Kyle Shotwell (LB, Cal Poly)
2007 ... Kroy Biermann (DE, Montana)
2008 ... Greg Peach (DE, Eastern Washington)
2009 ... Arthur Moats (DE, James Madison)
2010 ... J. C. Sherritt (LB, Eastern Washington)
