Jamel Johnson continued to impress leading up to his final season with TCU after being one of three Big 12 selections to the Thorpe Award watch list.
Preseason college football awards and watch list continue to roll out leading up to kickoff, and one of the latest releases saw a very exclusive group named from the Big 12.
The Jim Thorpe Award, which is bestowed upon the nation's top defensive back, gave a glance of its early contenders on its initial list.
Of these 35 honorees, only three hailed from the Big 12. And in this limited lineup was none other than standout safety Jamel Johnson of TCU.
He was joined by corner Brice Pollock of Texas Tech and fellow safety Faletau Satuala from BYU.
The Horned Frogs have not been as prominent as other teams in the conference in many of these preseason lists, but Johnson has consistently stood out for his squad.
He was previously tabbed to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list earlier this offseason, which honors the most outstanding defensive player anywhere on the field.
The Big 12 has also highlighted Johnson ahead of the season, as he was named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
With these high accolades already on his resume, it does not come as a shock that Johnson made the cut as one of the three secondary stars chosen from the conference.
Entering his senior season in Fort Worth, Johnson carries lofty expectations in his finale after consistently leveling up each year.
He tallied just shy of 100 tackles at 96 and hawked five passes to tie for the conference lead in interceptions with Pollock and BYU's Evan Johnson a year ago. Before that he ranked third for TCU with 73 tackles while only a sophomore.
Outside of his impressive numbers bolstering his case for the trophy, TCU has a history of its own with the prestigious award.
The Horned Frogs previously brought the Thorpe Award back to Fort Worth in 2020 with Trevon Moehrig and again in 2022 with Tre'vius Hodges-Tomlinson.
With these two victories, TCU stands alone as the nation's only program to have notched two recipients in the past decade and one of only five to reach the accomplishment since 2000.
It has a serious chance to add a third to that group and separate even further from the rest of college football when it comes to boasting the best defensive backs in the sport.
The upcoming season may have a few questions left to be answered by the Horned Frogs, but their standout safety in Johnson is anything but an uncertainty.
