A lot of people don’t realize this, but Da’Quan Bowers was the first Clemson football player to win a national individual award in 28 years when he won the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s best defensive player in 2010.
Bowers, who now coaches on Jeff Scott’s staff at South Florida, was an All-American defensive end for the Tigers in 2010. He was just the fourth unanimous All-American in Clemson history at the time, joining safety Terry Kinard (1982), defensive end Gaines Adams (2006) and running back C.J. Spiller (2009).
As mentioned, Bowers was the first Clemson player to win a national award since Kinard was named CBS’ Defensive Player of the Year in 1982.