Suh adds Outland, Bednarik to awards collection

Ndamukong Suh's trophy case just filled up significantly on Thursday night, as Nebraska's senior defensive tackle won the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Outland Trophy at the 2009 ESPN College football Awards show.

Texas senior quarterback Colt McCoy was named the winner of the Walter Camp Award - given to the best player in college football and widely considered a small step down from the Heisman Trophy - earlier in the night, which was the one award Suh was up for and didn't win.

However, Suh was able to take home two out of three with both the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman).

Suh beat out Alabama's Terrence Cody and Florida's Brandon Spikes to become the first Husker and just the third Big 12 Conference Player to win the Bednarik.

He also edged Oklahoma State's Russell Okung and Idaho's Mike Iupati to become the ninth Nebraska player to win the Outland Trophy and the first since Aaron Taylor in 1997. The nine Huskers to win the award is more than any school in the nation.

The Outland Trophy will officially be presented to Suh at a banquet in Omaha on Jan. 14.

On Wednesday, Suh won the Rotary Lombardi Award, given to the best lineman in college football on either side of the ball, and he also won the Bronko Nagurski Award for the best overall defensive player on Monday.

By winning both the Outland and the Lombardi, Suh becomes just the 12ht player ever and the second since 1996 to capture both awards. The last player to do it was LSU's Glenn Dorsey, coincidently another former player of Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini.

Suh also became the fifth player to win both defensive player of the year awards in the Bednarik and the Nagurski. The last player to accomplish the feat was Miami's Dan Morgan in 2000.

The award tour will continue on Saturday when Suh travels to New York City as one of five finalists for the Heisman Trophy. Suh will leave for New York Friday morning, and the ceremony will be nationally televised on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. CT.

After that, he'll wrap up the whirlwind week by flying to Newport Beach, Calif., for the Ronnie Lott Trophy presentation. The Lott Trophy honors the defensive player who best represented college football both on and off the field.

All the accolades the Portland, Ore., native has garnered thus far have certainly been earned to the fullest extent. As has been mentioned countless times during the past week, Suh's numbers this season border on being one of the best single-season performances by a defensive player in the past decade, if not longer.

Suh posted a team-leading 82 tackles, ranked fourth nationally with 12 sacks, ranked second on the team with 10 passes defended and blocked three kicks. The the Huskers' last-second loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship game, he finished the night with a career-high 12 tackles, and his 4.5 sacks set a Big 12 title game record.

Statements from Suh Pelini will be added to the story as they continue to come in this evening.