Toledo’s Barry Church is among the 12 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation’s best college defensive back.

Defensive back Barry Church, right, has 82 tackles so far this season.

He has earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors in each of his three seasons as a Rocket, and has a chance to become just the second player in UT history to earn first-team all-league honors in four consecutive seasons; the other was Nick Kaczur, now a starting offensive lineman with the New England Patriots. Church also is on the Bronco Nagurski Award watch list as the nation’s top defensive player.

Church is eighth in the MAC in tackles (82) this season, with 7.5 tackles for loss, one interception and three blocked kicks. He blocked the potential game-winning field goal with 37 seconds left in a 20-19 win over Northern Illinois Oct. 17. He was named fourth-team All-America on Phil Steele’s mid-season All-America team.

The Jim Thorpe Award list will be narrowed again Monday, Nov. 23, to three finalists who will be invited to the nationally telecast Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show Thursday, Dec. 10. The winner will be announced on the show, and the official presentation will be at a banquet in Oklahoma City Feb. 9.

The 2009 award marks the 24th presentation of the trophy, first won in 1986 by Baylor’s Thomas Everett. Last year’s winner was Ohio State University’s Malcolm Jenkins, who now is playing for the New Orleans Saints.

Jim Thorpe Award winners are selected for performance on the field, athletic ability and character. The 2009 semifinalists are:

• Javier Arenas, senior, Alabama;

• Eric Berry, junior, Tennessee;

• Church;

• Perrish Cox, senior, Oklahoma State;

• Joe Haden, junior, Florida;

• Brandon Harris, sophomore, Miami (Florida);

• Taylor Mays, senior, USC;

• Tyler Sash, sophomore, Iowa;

• Darrell Stuckey, senior, Kansas;

• Earl Thomas, sophomore, Texas;

• Alterraun Verner, senior, UCLA; and

• Kyle Wilson, senior, Boise State.

The screening committee was allowed only 12 candidates on the semifinalist list, but determined five additional outstanding players deserved recognition and were given honorable mention status. They are Kam Chancellor, senior, Virginia Tech; Ras-I Dowling, junior, Virginia; Brian Jackson, senior, Oklahoma; Rahim Moore, sophomore, UCLA; and DeAndre McDaniel, junior, Clemson

The Jim Thorpe Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association, which was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The association encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.

This entry was posted   on  Friday, November 6th, 2009 at  5:52 am and is filed under  News, UToday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.   You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.