Lincoln – Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory picked up his fourth watch list recognition Monday morning, as he was named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List.

Five Huskers have won the Rotary Lombardi Award, most recently Ndamukong Suh in 2009, and Gregory will look to become the sixth Husker football player to win the prestigious award.

As a sophomore, Gregory became one of the Big Ten’s top defenders last season and has earned preseason All-America accolades in 2014. In his first year with the Huskers, Gregory led the Big Ten with 10.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss. Nine of Gregory’s sacks came in Big Ten Conference play, including a season-high three sacks at Michigan.

Gregory earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for his efforts in 2013 and is considered a strong candidate for first-team All-America honors this fall. In addition to being named to the Lombardi Award Watch List on Monday, Gregory was earlier named to the watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Lott Trophy.

The Lombardi Award is limited to down linemen, end-to-end, either on offense or defense, who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball, or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage.

A total of 12 semifinalists will be announced later in the fall with the 45th Rotary Lombardi Award Dinner will be held on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 in Houston, Texas.