THE FLATS – Georgia Tech junior linebacker Kyle Efford (Dacula, Ga./Dacula H.S.) is among 90 candidates on the official watch list for the 2025 Bednarik Award. The Bednarik Award is presented annually to college football’s defensive player of the year.
Efford has led Georgia Tech in tackles each of the last two seasons, including with 64 in just 10 games as a sophomore last season. Despite missing three games due to a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery, Efford also led the Yellow Jackets in sacks (3.0) and was tied for third on the squad with 5.5 tackles for loss as a sophomore in 2024.
He turned up the biggest in some of Tech’s biggest games of the year, amassing 10 tackles in the Jackets’ season-opening win over No. 10 Florida State and six stops, including a sack of eventual No. 1 NFL Draft pick Cam Ward, in Tech’s victory over No. 4-ranked and previously unbeaten Miami (Fla.) in November. Despite being limited by injury in the second half of the season, Efford was a third-team all-ACC honoree.
In addition to being an all-ACC selection, he was a member of the all-ACC academic team in 2024 in recognition of his performance on the field and in the classroom.
Efford also led the team in tackles as a redshirt freshman in 2023 with 81, despite only being in the starting lineup for the second half of the season. He was the first Georgia Tech freshman to tie for the team lead in tackles since Darryl Smith in 1999, and the first freshman to lead the Yellow Jackets in stops outright since 1991.
The Bednarik Award partners with Pro Football Focus and Phil Steele Publications to provide data to its selection committee. The committee will select semifinalists and finalists for the 2025 Bednarik Award in November, and the recipient of the 31st Bednarik Award will be announced live during The Home Depot College Football Awards, Dec. 12 on ESPN. The award will be formally presented at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on March 13, 2026 in Atlanta.
Georgia Tech has posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time in a decade and returns five all-ACC honorees from last season’s squad, including Keylan Rutledge, an all-America guard and first-team all-conference selection. Other top performers returning for the Yellow Jackets in 2025 include all-ACC selections DT Jordan van den Berg, Efford, RB Jamal Haynes and WR Malik Rutherford, as well as two of the league’s top quarterbacks in senior Haynes King and redshirt freshman Aaron…
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