Junior defensive end DeAngelo Malone was named to the 2019 Ted Hendricks Award Watch List, the WKU football program announced Monday.

The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to the top defensive end in college football, and the Atlanta native is one of 43 players on the watch list, including only one of three players from Conference USA.

Malone has enjoyed a successful campaign in his third year at WKU, leading the Hilltopper defense in solo tackles with 44, tackles for loss with 18, sacks with nine and quarterback hurries with 15.

He ranks second on the team with 76 total tackles. Malone has at least one tackle for loss in 9-of-10 games, including multiple tackles for loss in four games, as well as multiple sacks and quarterback hurries in three contests.

Malone leads all C-USA defenders with 18 tackles for loss and nine sacks on the season, while he’s tied for second in tackles for loss and 11th in quarterback takedowns among Football Bowl Subdivision players.

His 7.6 total tackles per game ranks tied for 86th among FBS defenders. 

With 18 tackles for loss through the Hilltoppers’ first 10 games, Malone is only one away from passing the program’s FBS Era (dating back to 2009) record of 18.5 by Quanterus Smith in 2012.

Reaching the 20-mark would put him in the top 10 for a single-season in program history.

With nine sacks, Malone ranks second in the program’s FBS Era behind Smith’s mark of 12.5 in that same 2012 campaign.

With a 10th sack, he would become only the fourth WKU defender in the program’s 101-season history to reach the single-year double-digit mark.

The 2019 The Ted Hendricks Award winner will be announced on Dec. 11.

Reporter Alec Jessie can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Alec on Twitter at @Alec_Jessie.