KENNESAW, Ga. – The Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award named graduate linebacker
Baron Hopson to its watch list, the award announced today. The award is presented annually to the nation's top leaders in college football.
Hopson was also selected to the 2026 preseason watch lists for the Lombardi Award (nation's most outstanding linemen and linebackers) and for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (national defensive player of the year), as well as a HERO Sports Group of Six Preseason All-American.
The reigning 2025 CUSA Defensive Player of the Year and 2026 Preseason CUSA Defensive Player of the Year, Hopson had a monster campaign in 2025, recording a record-setting 138 tackles, nine tackles for loss, a forced fumble and interception over 14 games. Of his 14 games, he led the Owls in tackles in a whopping nine of them.
In the midst of rewriting the annals, he also broke the single-game tackle record with 16 in the regular-season finale that clinched KSU's berth in the Conference USA Championship game.
Off the field, Hopson is a member of the football team's leadership council, a 4.0 student and a degree holder in civil engineering. He is a Double Owl Member – a pathway at Kennesaw State for high-potential KSU students to obtain their undergraduate and graduate degrees faster.
He is also a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and the Black Student-Athlete Association, as well as a chair member of KSU's Student-Athlete Association.
Hopson has been named a member of the Dean's List six times and is currently obtaining his master's degree in engineering management.
The Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, presented by Albertsons and Tom Thumb since 2017, is the first college football honor to focus primarily on a player's leadership, both on and off the field. The award's name's sake, Jason Witten, served as one of football's most prominent role models, in addition to being one of the best tight ends in the history of the sport, during his 16-year pro career. During his career, Witten received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2012, the Bart Starr Award, Pro Football Weekly's Humanitarian of the Year Award, Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP and the Bob Lilly Award, among many others. The winner of the award will also receive a $10,000 contribution in his name to his school's athletic scholarship fund from Witten's SCORE Foundation.
For more information on the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award and the full 2026 preseason watch list, click
HERE.
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