Cameron Cooper Named Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week

DALLAS -- San Diego State junior linebacker Cameron Cooper has been named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week, the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the Charlotte Touchdown Club announced on Tuesday.

Cooper is just the third Aztec to win the honor, joining Matt McCoy on Sept. 20, 2004, and Kameron Kelly on Sept. 19, 2017.

Cooper, who was also the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, helped the Aztecs (2-3, 1-0 Pac-12) open their Pac-12 era with a 31-29 win over Texas State on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium. SDSU rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit, matching the fourth-largest second-half deficit comeback to win in San Diego State’s Division I history (since 1969).

A junior linebacker, Cooper came up with two big plays in his most significant playing time of the season. Cooper first blocked a 35-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter that would have but the Bobcats up, 20-3, in a game where the Aztecs ended up winning by two points. His second game-changing play came in the fourth quarter. After SDSU took a safety to drop its lead to 24-22 with 3:02 left in the game, TXST started with the ball on its own 30. Cooper deflected a pass from quarterback Brad Jackson, then caught the ball and ran it back 32 yards for the score to make it a 31-22 game in with proved to be the game-winning score. Cooper finished with a season-high seven tackles, while adding a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

In his first season on The Mesa after playing the last two years at Division II’s Western Colorado, Cooper has 22 tackles (11 solo), to go along with a 10-yard sack, an interception returned for a touchdown, a pass breakup, a blocked kick and three quarterback hurries.

Each week during the regular season, the FWAA has selected a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week since 2001. Since he was named this week’s honored player, Cooper is now on the watch list for the award. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2026 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 19. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2026 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 7 at the Charlotte Convention Center, and the winner will also be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards live on ESPN on Dec. 11.

The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association’s full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalists. The trophy winner will be chosen from the four finalists named in November. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.

The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw "Bronko" Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

San Diego State travels to Oregon State on Saturday with kickoff set for 3 p.m. PT.