Watchlist season is rolling on, and three more Bears got on a watchlist Thursday afternoon. Outside linebackers Kuony Deng and Cameron Goode made the watchlist for the Rotary Lombardi Award, while offensive lineman McKade Mettauer made the watchlist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award. The Lombardi award goes to to the offensive lineman, defensive lineman, or linebacker who “in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the character and discipline of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi.” Goode and Deng are two of 80 athletes on the watchlist.
The Campbell Award is given to the top college football player with ties to the state of Texas, and it’s the third consecutive year that Mettauer has made the list.
Goode comes into 2021 as a sixth year senior, one of nine super seniors that returned from a year ago. A native of Spring, TX, Goode has ammassed 125 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss (-120 yards), 14.0 sacks (-83 yards), two interceptions that he has returned for 70 yards and a pair of touchdowns, six pass breakups, eight passes defended, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and eight quarterback hurries over the 26 games he’s played in from 2017 to 2020.
This is the third watchlist Goode has been on in the preseason, along with that of the Butkus Award and the Bednarik Award.
Deng is also one of the nine super seniors, coming to the Bears from Independence CC in January of 2019. In the 17 games he has started since, he has put up career totals of 150 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss (-37 yards), 3.5 sacks (-14 yards), eight pass breakups, eight passes defended, six quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Deng has moved to outside linebacker for the 2021 season, where he looks to start opposite Goode. He’s also on the Butkus and Lott IMPACT Trophy watchlists in addition to the Lombardi.
Mettauer has played in every game since he came to Cal in the class of 2019. He has started 16 of the 17 games at right guard for the Bears over the past two seasons, playing in all but 8 reps in the sole game he did not start in 2019.
Mettauer, from The Woodlands, TX, is set to start for the Bears again at right guard, as he’s now one of the Bears’ most tenured linemen going into the 2021 season.