Boston College Athletics
Kuechly Named A Butkus Award Finalist
November 22, 2011 | Football
Nov. 22, 2011
Boston College junior Luke Kuechly has been named a finalist for the 27th annual Butkus Award honoring the nation's top linebacker, according to an announcement by the Butkus Foundation on Tuesday. Finalists were selected by a panel of 51 coaches, scouts and journalists supervised by Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly. The winner will be announced on or before Dec. 7.
A 6-foot-3, 237-pound product of Cincinnati, Ohio, Kuechly leads all collegiate players in the country with 96 solo tackles and 182 total tackles in 11 games this fall.
In addition to BC's Kuechly, Lavonte David (Nebraska), Dont'a Hightower (Alabama), Jarvis Jones (Georgia), Manti Te'o (Notre Dame) and Courtney Upshaw (Alabama) have been named finalists for the award.
Kuechly has recorded 523 career tackles, including 293 solo tackles, in 36 career games and is averaging 14.1 tackles per game and 7.9 solo tackles per game. All four standards are unmatched among active collegiate football players. He is one takedown shy of matching his own ACC record for tackles in a season, which he established last year, and one shy of the school's career record set by linebacker Stephen Boyd (1991-94).
He has registered 10 or more tackles in 33 (of 36) games since making his collegiate debut against Northeastern on Sept. 5, 2009.
In addition to the Butkus Award, Kuechly has also been named a finalist for the Rotary Lombardi Award given to the nation's top lineman or linebacker on Dec. 7 in Houston, Texas, and the Bronko Nagurski Award given to the National Defensive Player of the Year on Dec. 12 in Charlotte, N.C.
Kuechly is a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, for the Lott IMPACT Trophy given to the defensive impact player of the year and the Bednarik Award for the top defensive player.
Considered one of the greatest football players in history, Butkus was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, following an illustrious career with the Chicago Bears, University of Illinois and Chicago Vocational School.
Kuechly was a unanimous All-America selection as a sophomore last fall, receiving first-team honors from the Associated Press, the Sporting News, the Walter Camp Foundation, the Football Writers' Association of America and the American Football Coaches Association.
Boston College (3-8, 2-5 ACC) will face Miami (6-5, 3-4 ACC) in the final game of the 2011 season on Friday, Nov. 25 at 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC.
