BATON ROUGE — LSU senior defensive tackle Kyle Williams and junior free safety LaRon Landry have been named to the Bronko Nagurski Watch List for the 2005 season, the Football Writer’s Association of America announced on Monday.

Williams and Landry are among 50 defensive players who are named to the preseason Nagurski list.

The Bronko Nagurski Trophy, awarded to the best defensive player in college football, has been a staple of the FWAA’s awards since 1993. It is sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club, which has held the annual awards banquet since 1995.

Williams, who enters his third season as a starter on the Tiger defensive front, earned second team All-Southeastern Conference honors in 2004 after recording 57 tackles and six sacks for the Tigers. Williams enters his final season with the Tigers with 12 career sacks and 18.5 tackles for losses.

Landry, a second-team All-SEC pick as well as a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2004, has led the Tigers in tackles for two straight seasons. In 12 games in 2004, Landry posted 92 tackles to go with five tackles for losses and three sacks. He also led the Tigers with four interceptions.

In two years, Landry has played in 26 games with 22 starts. As a freshman in 2003, Landry was named first-team Freshman All-America after recording 80 tackles and three sacks for the national champion Tigers.

The 2005 Nagurski banquet is set for Monday, Dec. 5, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, where five finalists will vie for the prize. Texas linebacker Derrick Johnson won the 2004 Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

The FWAA All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski winner from the association’s 11-man All-America defensive team in late November. Players may be added from the Bronko Nagurski Watch List during the course of the 2005 season.

For the fifth straight season, the FWAA will select Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Players of the Week, beginning with games the week of Sept. 3 and running through the middle of November. Each national player of the week will be  added to the trophy’s watch list throughout the season and until the conclusion of the year.