MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State senior quarterback Jesse Ertz and junior defensive back D.J. Reed were named to the 2017 preseason watch lists for the Maxwell and Bednarik awards, respectively, the Maxwell Football Club announced Monday.

The honors are the first of each player’s career. Ertz is the first Wildcat to be up for the Maxwell Award, given to the College Player of the Year, since 2014 when quarterback Jake Waters was one of 20 semifinalists and Tyler Lockett was a preseason candidate. Reed’s inclusion on the Bednarik Award marks the sixth-straight season a Wildcat has been a candidate for the College Defensive Player of the Year.

Ertz, the MVP of the 2016 Texas Bowl, was one of three quarterbacks in school history to rush for 1,000 yards (1,012) and throw for 1,500 yards (1,755), while he was one of only four in the nation a year ago to accomplish the feat. He recorded the school’s 15th 1,000-yard rushing season, while he was the third-fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 rushing yards.

A product of Burlington, Iowa, Ertz enters his senior campaign holding the school’s career record for lowest interception percentage (1.52 percent), ranked fourth in 100-yard rushing games among quarterbacks (3) and fifth in career rushing yards among quarterbacks (1,063).

Reed, a community-college transfer from Cerritos College, picked up 2016 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year honors from the league’s coaches after tying for second on the team with 75 tackles to go along with three interceptions and a Big 12-leading 19 passes defended. A First Team All-Big 12 pick, Reed tied for third in school history and fifth nationally during the 2016 season in passes defended. He also tied for team-high honors with three interceptions, a mark that tied for seventh in the Big 12.

The Wildcats open their seven-game home slate and the 2017 season with the ninth-annual K-State Family Reunion on Saturday, September 2, against Central Arkansas

— K-State Athletics —