Auburn LB Xavier Atkins Continues to Pile On Honors Ahead of 2026 Season

It seems as if every day comes with a new award or honor for the Auburn Tigers’ top linebacker, Xavier Atkins, and Friday was no exception, as it was announced that Atkins had been placed on the Bednarik Award watchlist ahead of the 2026 season.

If there's a list, X is on it 🔥🏆@XavierAtkins8 has been named to the @BednarikAward Watch List 🦅 pic.twitter.com/Hmv9icZACA
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) August 21, 2026

The award, named for the late great Chuck Bednarik, is presented annually to the best defensive player in the country, according to the Maxwell Football Club, one of college football’s most exclusive clubs.

Frankly, this is not all that surprising, especially given Atkins’ dominance over Auburn headlines, both in this offseason and throughout last season. Even in a year in which an Auburn defensive player, Keldric Faulk, ended up being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, Atkins still seemed to swipe the spotlight whenever he could.

Throughout a dominant 2025 campaign, Atkins managed to accumulate 84 total tackles, 60 solo tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception, the latter of which he nearly returned for a touchdown against Oklahoma.

However, the stat that stands out most about Atkins is his tackles for loss, as the then-sophomore totaled 17.0 tackles for loss throughout the season, which was not only good for the most by any collegiate linebacker that year, but also the most any Auburn linebacker has recorded in a season.

Atkins earned a wealth of awards and honors for his play last year, including Second Team All-America honors, First Team All-SEC honors, a nod as a Chuck Bednarik Award Semifinalist, a nod as Monday Morning QB Birmingham Club’s SEC Most Valuable Lineman and a SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Tigers’ matchup against Arkansas.

It certainly does not hurt that Atkins was a semifinalist for this award just a year ago, which was his first season of full-time starting minutes, as the prior year, while at LSU, Atkins recorded just three tackles throughout the season.

Logic follows that Atkins should be an even better player this season, now that he has not only had additional time to grow and develop, but also has a top-level season already under his belt. A ‘sophomore slump’ of sorts will need to be avoided, but if Atkins continues to stay in gear, he’ll spell trouble for any opposing offense in 2026.

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