Caden Sterns named to Paycom Jim Thorpe Award watch list
Texas Football junior DB Caden Sterns was named to the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award preseason watch list, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Associated announced Monday. The Thorpe Award is presented annually to the top defensive back in college football.
Texas has a long history with the Thorpe Award, which was first presented in 1986. Michael Huff and Aaron Ross won the award in back-to-back seasons (2005-06), while three others have been finalists (Quentin Jammer, 2001; Earl Thomas, 2009; DeShon Elliott, 2017). Monday’s announcement marks the second-straight year Sterns has been named to the Thorpe Award’s preseason watch list. He was also a semifinalist for the award as a true freshman in 2018.
Sterns, a Cibolo, Texas native, is a third-year defensive back who has played in 22 career games with 21 starts. He has already been named to the Bednarik Award watch list as the nation’s top defensive player, and to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team this year. Last season, he appeared in nine games, missing four due to injury. Despite missing time, Sterns still registered 58 tackles (43 solo), four tackles for loss, one sack and one pass break up. His sophomore season was capped by an eight-tackle day (six solo) against No. 11 Utah in the Valero Alamo Bowl. As a freshman, in addition to being a Thorpe Award semifinalist, he was the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-Big 12 honoree. He started the first 13 games of the 2018 season, making him UT’s first true freshman defensive back to start the first 13 games of his career since Blake Gideon in 2008. Sterns led the Longhorns with four interceptions, and also totaled 62 tackles (46 solo), three tackles for loss, one sack, four pass breakups and one blocked kick. Two of his interceptions came against TCU, making him just the third Longhorn true freshman ever with two interceptions in a game. Sterns has recorded at least five tackles on 14 occasions during his time at UT, highlighted by a career-best 12 tackles against Oklahoma State last season.
The Thorpe Award will announce 10-to-15 semifinalists on the first Monday of November, followed by an announcement of the three finalists on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The three finalists are then submitted to a national panel of over 250 sports writers, sportscasters, former players and coaches who will vote to determine the winner of the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award. The winner will be announced at The Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN in December.
