Kyle Louis named to Bronko Nagurski Trophy watchlist
The preseason accolades continue to roll in for Kyle Louis, following one of the best defensive seasons in the Pat Narduzzi era. Louis has been named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy preseason watchlist.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is awarded annually to the best defensive player in college football. Aaron Donald (2013) is the lone winner in Pitt’s history, with the award dating back to 1993.
Kyle Louis was one of the best defenders in all of college football last season, earning the first first-team All-American nod since Calijah Kancey in 2022, and the expectations are that he’ll be even better in 2025.
Louis — a 6-foot, 225-pound linebacker from East Orange, N.J. — has also been named a preseason first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation, which is one of the top award providers in college football.
In 13 games last season, Louis recorded 101 tackles (45 solo), 16 tackles for loss, seven sacks, four interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a blocked extra point (returned for a safety).
And he feels like he can be even better in the 2025 season — after he said he left a lot on the field last season.
“I had many missed assignments, I had many missed tackles, I had many screw-ups, so I could easily double the season if I wanted to,” Louis said in the spring. “It’s all about how I keep cleaning up my little plays. Through my eyes, it ain’t really feel like I had the craziest season that I really could’ve had, obviously, I probably had a crazy season through the beginning, the first seven, eight, nine weeks, but after that, my production definitely fell off. So I gotta be more consistent in everything around there.”
In the final four games of the season, Louis recorded 25 tackles (12 solo), five tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups and blocked an extra point in the bowl game, which he returned for a safety. And according to PFF, he missed just one tackle during that span.
And that was with opposing offensive coordinators honing in on No. 9 across the field, something Louis is keenly aware of.
Louis is a perfect fit at Star, but he’s the sort of playmaker who could fit at any of the three linebacker spots. Pat Narduzzi joked about trying Louis out at Mike, where he’d command the defense a la SirVocea Dennis. Regardless, it will be hard to keep him off the field (coming off a team-high 838 snaps last season). It was a breakout performance, but the sky is the limit.
