Junior Eddie Yarbrough and senior Sonny Puletasi were both named to a pre-season college football award watch list for the first time Monday.

Yarbrough was one of 123 student-athletes from 76 universities named to the 2014 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List. He was a First Team All-Conference selection in the Mountain West as a sophomore in 2013. Yarbrough led all defensive linemen with an average of 7.4 tackles per game last season. He finished with 89 total stops, which included 6.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

Eligibility 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.

For a complete look at the pre-season Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List, you can click here.

Puletasi was one of 51 players named to the Butkus Award Watch List. This award honors the nation's top linebacker.

The senior outside linebacker/defensive end for the Pokes finished with 47 tackles in 2013. Puletasi had 4.5 sack, ten tackles for loss and three pass break-ups. He was second on the squad last season in both sacks and tackles for loss behind Yarbrough.

You can view the list of Butkus Award Watch List candidates by clicking here.

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