CHICAGO – Washington State defensive lineman Hercules Mata'afa was named to the Ted Hendricks Award Watch List, the Ted Hendricks Foundation announced recently.

Mata'afa is one of 34 players name to the watch list for the award for college football's top defensive end.

Mata'afa, a native of Lahaina, Hawaii, earned All-Pac-12 second team honors last season after finishing fifth in the league with 13.5 tackles including a team-high five sacks. The redshirt-junior enters the 2017 season with 24.5 career tackles-for-loss, second-most among active Pac-12 players. Earlier this summer, Mata'afa was named to the Bronco Nagurski Trophy watch list, given to the nation's Defensive Player of the Year, the Bednarik Award watch list (given to the country's top defensive player) and the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award Watch List.

The Ted Hendricks Award is named in honor of college football's first three-time first-team All-American, Ted Hendricks at the University of Miami. He went on to play 15 seasons in the NFL including 215 straight games and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1990.  On-field performance, exceptional winning attitude, leadership abilities, contributions to school and community and academic preparedness are some of the criteria used to determine the Award's winner. Members of the national media, head coaches, professional scouts and former winners are included in the Award's voting committee. Candidates may represent any class (Freshman through Senior) as well as any four-year NCAA accredited school.

The winner will be announced Dec. 6.