The Butkus Award Watch List for the top collegiate linebacker was announced by the Butkus Foundation on Monday of this week. The award is named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Hall of Fame linebacker, Dick Butkus. There are also high school and professional categories of the award.
Boston College's Luke Kuechly won the award in 2011, but has since moved on to the NFL. Notre Dame's Manti Te'o is the only returning finalist.Te'o won the inaugaral High School Butkus Award in 2008, but former Ole Miss and current San Francisco 49er, Patrick Willis, is the only player to win two versions of the award so far (college and pro). As mentioned before on CFU, Georgia's Jarvis Jones is top rated NFL talent and also a returning semi-finalist.
There are 51 linebackers on the watch and the SEC has almost one-third of the players on the list with 16. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have the next most with nine and seven respectively. Most FBS conferences were represented except the MAC and WAC despite a player from the FCS on the list, Howard's Keith Pough.
You can find more information about the Dick Butkus Award at theButkusAward.com.
2012 Butkus Award Watch List:
SEC (16):
Jonathan Bostic, Florida
Zaviar Gooden, Missouri
Alanzo Highsmith, Arkansas
DeVonte Holloman, South Carolina
Jelani Jenkins, Florida
A.J. Johnson, Tennessee
Nico Johnson, Alabama
Jarvis Jones, Georgia
Cameron Lawrence, Mississippi State
John Lotulelei, Florida
Lerentee McCray, Florida
Kevin Minter, LSU
Damontre Moore, Texas A&M
C.J. Mosley, Alabama
Sean Porter, Texas A&M
Cornelius Washington, Georgia
Big Ten (9):
Denicos Allen, Michigan State
Chris Borland, Wisconsin
Jonathan Brown, Illinois
Max Bullough, Michigan State
Gerald Hodges, Penn State
Michael Mauti, Penn State
James Morris, Iowa
David Nwabuisi, Northwestern
Etienne Sabino, Ohio State
PAC-12 (7):
Dion Bailey, Southern California
Travis Long, Washington State
Brandon Magee, Arizona State
Trent Murphy, Stanford
Douglas Rippy, Colorado
Shane Skov, Stanford
Chase Thomas, Stanford
ACC (5):
Christian Jones, Florida State
Nick Moody, Florida State
Kevin Reddick, North Carolina
Kenny Tate, Maryland
Bruce Taylor, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (4):
Arthur Brown, Kansas State
A.J. Klein, Iowa State
Jake Knott, Iowa State
Tom Wort, Oklahoma
Big East (3):
Steve Beauharnais, Rutgers
Khaseem Greene, Rutgers
Sio Moore, Connecticut
Conference USA (2):
Jamie Collins, Southern Mississippi
Ja'Gared Davis, Southern Methodist University
Independents (2):
Uona Kaveinga, BYU
Manti Te'o, Notre Dame
Mountain West (1):
Jeremiah Greene, Nevada
Sun Belt (1):
Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky
FCS-MEAC (1):
Keith Pough, Howard
Boston College's Luke Kuechly won the award in 2011, but has since moved on to the NFL. Notre Dame's Manti Te'o is the only returning finalist.Te'o won the inaugaral High School Butkus Award in 2008, but former Ole Miss and current San Francisco 49er, Patrick Willis, is the only player to win two versions of the award so far (college and pro). As mentioned before on CFU, Georgia's Jarvis Jones is top rated NFL talent and also a returning semi-finalist.
There are 51 linebackers on the watch and the SEC has almost one-third of the players on the list with 16. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have the next most with nine and seven respectively. Most FBS conferences were represented except the MAC and WAC despite a player from the FCS on the list, Howard's Keith Pough.
You can find more information about the Dick Butkus Award at theButkusAward.com.
2012 Butkus Award Watch List:
SEC (16):
Jonathan Bostic, Florida
Zaviar Gooden, Missouri
Alanzo Highsmith, Arkansas
DeVonte Holloman, South Carolina
Jelani Jenkins, Florida
A.J. Johnson, Tennessee
Nico Johnson, Alabama
Jarvis Jones, Georgia
Cameron Lawrence, Mississippi State
John Lotulelei, Florida
Lerentee McCray, Florida
Kevin Minter, LSU
Damontre Moore, Texas A&M
C.J. Mosley, Alabama
Sean Porter, Texas A&M
Cornelius Washington, Georgia
Big Ten (9):
Denicos Allen, Michigan State
Chris Borland, Wisconsin
Jonathan Brown, Illinois
Max Bullough, Michigan State
Gerald Hodges, Penn State
Michael Mauti, Penn State
James Morris, Iowa
David Nwabuisi, Northwestern
Etienne Sabino, Ohio State
PAC-12 (7):
Dion Bailey, Southern California
Travis Long, Washington State
Brandon Magee, Arizona State
Trent Murphy, Stanford
Douglas Rippy, Colorado
Shane Skov, Stanford
Chase Thomas, Stanford
ACC (5):
Christian Jones, Florida State
Nick Moody, Florida State
Kevin Reddick, North Carolina
Kenny Tate, Maryland
Bruce Taylor, Virginia Tech
Big 12 (4):
Arthur Brown, Kansas State
A.J. Klein, Iowa State
Jake Knott, Iowa State
Tom Wort, Oklahoma
Big East (3):
Steve Beauharnais, Rutgers
Khaseem Greene, Rutgers
Sio Moore, Connecticut
Conference USA (2):
Jamie Collins, Southern Mississippi
Ja'Gared Davis, Southern Methodist University
Independents (2):
Uona Kaveinga, BYU
Manti Te'o, Notre Dame
Mountain West (1):
Jeremiah Greene, Nevada
Sun Belt (1):
Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky
FCS-MEAC (1):
Keith Pough, Howard
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