Mike Echols, a senior defensive back with the Wisconsin football team, has been named to the 2001 Pre-season Jim Thorpe Award “Watch List.” The award, won last season by Wisconsin’s Jamar Fletcher, goes to the nation’s top defensive back.
Echols, a team captain for this coming season, is the Badgers’ most experienced player (36 starts). He is second all-time at the UW with 47 pass breakups and is tied for sixth on the school’s career list for interceptions with nine.
Echols and his teammates begin practice next week in preparation for their season-opener at home against Virginia on August 25 (1 p.m. CDT, Fox Sports Net).