DALLAS (September 12, 2023) – Washington State edge Ron Stone Jr. was named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy National Player of the Week, the Football Writers Association of America announced Tuesday.
 
Stone Jr. was named the Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player and Defensive Lineman of the Week Monday after making five tackles including two sacks and forced fumbles on both sacks in the 31-22 win over No. 19 Wisconsin in Pullman over the weekend. The redshirt-senior's second strip sack of the game was recovered and returned for a touchdown by the Cougars late in the first half. Stone Jr. tallied five total pressures, recorded his first career two-sack game, posted the best edge grade in the Pac-12, the seventh-best edge grade in the country and the fourth-best pass-rush grade in the country among all players.
 
The San Jose, Calif. native enters week three tied for the league lead with two forced fumbles and was a preseason All-Pac-12 Conference second team selection.
 
This is the second Pac-12 Defensive Lineman of the Week honor for Stone, who also earned it in 2021. The last WSU player to win Defensive Lineman of the Week was Brennan Jackson in Week 11 of last season. Jackson is on the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List, and Stone will now join him on that list going forward. 
 
Washington State has not had a Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner or a finalist in its past. The only WSU designated defensive lineman to earn FWAA All-America honors was Rien Long in 2002. Linemen Wayne Foster (1965) and end Bill Steiger (1956) are former Cougars FWAA All-Americans from the two-way player era. 
 
The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association's full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Nagurski Trophy finalists. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner will be chosen from the five 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. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football's most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. This season, 12 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit the redesigned NCFAA.org or follow on X at @NCFAA.
 
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 2023 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 15. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2023 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 4 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
 
Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. If not already on the watch list, each week's honored player, including Stone this week, will be added at that time.