Iowa junior defensive end Anthony Nelson has been named to the 2018 Ted Hendricks Award Watch List, according to a release from the Iowa athletic department.

The award is given to the top defensive end in college football. The Hendricks' watch list isn't the only preseason accolade the Urbandale native has received.

Nelson has been named to three others watch lists this preseason: Lott IMPACT Trophy, the Bednarik Award, and the Bronko Nagurski award. He also was selected to Iowa's 2018 Leadership Group.

With all the preseason honors, it's easy for a college athlete to get wrapped up in all the hype and attention towards him. Nelson is grateful for the honors, but he's much more concerned about his team's performance on the field.

"Personally, I don't pay much attention to [the preseason watch lists]," Nelson told reporters at Iowa Media Day on Aug. 10. "As a group, we had a lot of people in the defensive line room that are competing against each other, competing against the offensive line, and helping each other get better. You get caught up in doing your stuff as a team, so you don't really have time to get wrapped up with any of that outside stuff."

Last season, Nelson totaled a career-high 7.5 sacks and started all 13 games while earning All-Big Ten Third Team Honors. Nelson also recorded 41 tackles, 9.5 tackles for a loss, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a blocked field goal.

The talent on the edge is one of the primary strengths of the Iowa defense heading into the 2018 season.

Nelson will be a vital member to a loaded defensive end group this year along with senior Parker Hesse, Sam Brincks, and former five-star recruit A.J. Epenesa. True freshman John Waggoner and Noah Shannon could also contribute on the edge or on the inside at the tackle position.

While there's a lot of firepower on both sides of the ball for the Hawkeyes, expectations are still so-so as no one really knows what to expect from this team. Nelson and the rest of the team are doing their best to block out the outside noise.

"We don't really worry about the expectations too much," Nelson said. "Our focus is on coming in every day and getting better, and putting good practices together and putting those on top of each other and then hopefully stacking those up into games. To exceed those expectations we just have to focus every day and just take it one game at a time."

With a strong junior campaign, Nelson may land on a few NFL franchises' radars.

Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com said this about Nelson's potential in June of 2017: "[Nelson] is a developing pass rusher with great length (over 6-feet-6) and solid size. He flashed dominance at times last season and is an exciting prospect for the future."