By Ole Miss Sports

Ole Miss football senior defensive tackle JJ Pegues has been named to the 2024 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which also makes him a semifinalist for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, as announced by both entities on Tuesday morning.

The Allstate AFCA Good Works Team names 22 student-athletes and one head coach for exemplary community service, with 11 honorees from the FBS and 11 from all other divisions of college football combined. The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, announced later this year, is presented to one of the 11 FBS players elected to the Good Works Team.

Pegues has started all three games on the defensive line this season for the Rebels, where he is tied for second on the team with 3.0 tackles for loss. Among all interior defensive linemen in the FBS, Pegues ranks as the No. 9 pass rusher per PFF with an 83.3 grade. He also owns two rushes for 12 yards and one touchdown as a special package member of the Rebel offense.

This preseason, Pegues was named the 2024 winner of the Chucky Mullins Courage Award, which is presented annually to an Ole Miss upperclassman defensive player that embodies the spirit of the late Chucky Mullins – courage, leadership, perseverance and determination.

Pegues has become a mainstay of the Ole Miss defense, playing in all 13 games for the Rebels in 2023 while starting 12. He ended the 2023 campaign with career highs in tackles (42), tackles for loss (8.0), sacks (3.5) and pass breakups (4) while also adding two QB hurries. Pegues – a former tight end – also further cemented his role as one of the nation’s more versatile linemen, rushing for a crucial first down in Ole Miss’ Peach Bowl victory over Penn State. In 2022, he hauled in a one-yard touchdown reception in the Egg Bowl.

Pegues is heavily active within the Lafayette-Oxford-University community, partaking in numerous community service events during his time at Ole Miss. Pegues – a member of the SEC Leadership Council, the SEC Community Service Team and the Ole Miss Student-Athlete Advisory Committee – held his own community-wide school supply giveaway last fall, which helped distribute school supplies for elementary students.

This year’s Good Works Team was selected from a record 178 nominees, representing players and coaches from colleges and universities across the country for their unwavering commitment to community service and their “good works” off the field. The full roster of the Good Works Team and their stories of community service can be found at ESPN.com/Allstate.

All members are selected by a voting panel of former Good Works Team members, current and former head coaches, and journalists who look for exceptional leadership on and off the football field.

The Wuerffel Trophy finalists and recipient will be selected by a national voting committee, including a fan vote component. The 2024 recipient, who will also be recognized as the Good Works Team captain, will be announced live on ESPN during the Home Depot College Football Awards show on Dec. 12.

Established in 1992, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team recognizes college football athletes for their unwavering commitment to community service and their “good works” off the field.

The Wuerffel Trophy is presented annually to the FBS player who best combines exemplary community service with leadership achievement on and off the field. The trophy is named after Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the University of Florida who parlayed his success on the football field into a lifetime of service.