DALLAS - The Football Writers Association of America, in conjunction with the Charlotte Touchdown Club, released its preseason watch list for the 2020 Bronko Nagurski Trophy presented by LendingTree Tuesday, selecting 98 defensive standouts from 66 schools in all 10 Division I FBS conferences plus independents on a roster that includes five returning players from last season's FWAA All-America team and one from 2018. Georgia Southern senior defensive end Raymond Johnson III was one of the 98 players up for the award, which goes to the nation's best defensive player. 

Johnson III, from Sumter, South Carolina, has been named a first-team all-conference this preseason by multiple outlets after earning first-team All-Sun Belt accolades last season from the conference.

Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. As in previous years, the FWAA will announce a National Defensive Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week's honored player will be added at that time. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce five finalists for the 2020 Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

The winner of the 2020 Bronko Nagurski Trophy presented by LendingTree as the National Defensive Player of the Year will be chosen from those five finalists. 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. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.

This year's watch list includes at least four players from all 10 FBS conferences plus three from the independents. The ACC led the conference list with 17 with the SEC (15) just behind, making up almost one-third of the list. The Pac-12 (13), Big 12 (12) and Big Ten (10) also have double-digit representation, followed by Conference USA (7), the American Athletic (6), Sun Belt (6), Mid-American (5), Mountain West (4) and Independents (3). The list includes 31 linebackers, 28 backs, 23 ends and 16 tackles.