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Yesterday, Dele Harding was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Take that another step up, and now Harding is the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week.
Nagurski National Player of the Week
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) November 5, 2019
Another huge honor for @dele_harding, named @NagurskiTrophy National Defensive Player of the Week after his dominant performance in the #Illini win over Rutgers. https://t.co/KsIiRsGLJg pic.twitter.com/AawZyJfMuq
This comes after his dominating performance in Illinois’ 38-10 win over Rutgers on Saturday. He had 12 tackles, 2 TFL, a forced fumble returned for a touchdown, and an interception returned for a touchdown.
He also leads the Big Ten in tackles per game with 11.7.
This is the second big national award for the Illini this season, after Lovie Smith took home national coach of the week honors following Illinois’ upset over Wisconsin.