Hendricks Award Final Watch List | Hendricks Award Website
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois football seniors Dawuane Smoot and Carroll Phillips are two of 27 defensive ends on the final ballot for the Hendricks Award. The Ted Hendricks Award goes to the top defensive end in the nation based on on-field performance, exceptional winning attitude, leadership abilities, contributions to school and community and academic preparedness.
Smoot and Phillips have been one of the best defensive end combinations in the nation. Phillips became one of seven Illini players in history to record 20.0 or more tackles for loss in a single season when he had 3.0 in the final game at Northwestern to get to 20.0, while Smoot finished with 15.0 TFLs to rank sixth in the Big Ten and end his career tied for sixth in Illinois history with 38.5 TFLs.
Phillips is ranked second in the nation in solo TFLs (19), seventh in TFLs per game (1.7) and 12th in solo sacks (9). Smoot was third in the Big Ten in TFLs per conference game with 13.0.
The final watch list of 27 will be narrowed to five finalists by the award's selection committee before the winner is revealed Dec. 7.
Illinois and Arkansas State are the only two programs in the nation with multiple defensive ends on the final ballot. Phillips, Smoot and Northwestern's Ifeadi Odenigbo were the only representatives from the Big Ten.
Illinois' Whitney Mercilus, who now plays for the Houston Texans, won the award in 2011.
