2014 Men’s Basketball
Championship
The initial watch list for the Butkus Award was announced by the Butkus Foundation, pushing 51 players into the national spotlight. The award is given annually to the nation’s top linebacker since 1985.
Oklahoma’s Travis Lewis, Boston College’s Luke Kuechly, Alabama’s, Texas’s Keenan Robinson, Miami’s Sean Spence and Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o return to the list after being semifinalists for the 2010 award won by Texas A&M’s Von Miller. Kuechly is the only returning player from last year’s group of five finalists.
An independent Butkus Award selection committee comprised of 51 experts including professional, college and high school scouts and prominent sports journalists will conduct the award’s selection process.
| Player | School | Player | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuel Acho | Texas | Mychal Kendricks | California |
| Ryan Baker | LSU | Jake Knott | Iowa State |
| Chris Borland | Wisconsin | Luke Kuechly | Boston College |
| Jon Bostic | Florida | Travis Lewis | Oklahoma |
| Nigel Bradham | Florida State | Chris Marve | Vanderbilt |
| Tanner Brock | TCU | Michael Mauti | Penn State |
| Arthur Brown | Kansas State | Carmen Messina | New Mexico |
| Zach Brown | North Carolina | Tyler Nielsen | Iowa |
| Ramon Buchanan | Miami (Fla.) | Corey Paredes | Hawaii |
| Marvin Burdette | UAB | Kevin Reddick | North Carolina |
| Vontaze Burflict | Arizona State | Keenan Robinson | Texas |
| Miles Burris | San Diego State | Shayne Skov | Stanford |
| Tank Carder | TCU | Sean Spence | Miami (Fla.) |
| Audie Cole | NC State | Kenny Tate | Maryland |
| Jamie Collins | Southern Miss | Bruce Taylor | Virginia Tech |
| Lavonte David | Nebraska | Mike Taylor | Wisconsin |
| Darius Fleming | Notre Dame | Manti Te’o | Notre Dame |
| Jerry Franklin | Arkansas | Danny Trevathan | Kentucky |
| Chris Galippo | USC | Courtney Upshaw | Alabama |
| Zaviar Gooden | Missouri | Bobby Wagner | Utah State |
| Max Gruder | Pittsburgh | Tahir Whitehead | Temple |
| Dont’a Hightower | Alabama | Garrick Williams | Texas A&M |
| Jelani Jenkins | Florida | Korey Williams | Southern Miss |
| James-Michael Johnson | Nevada | Dwayne Woods | Bowling Green |
| Nico Johnson | Alabama | Tom Wort | Oklahoma |
| Josh Kaddu | Oregon |
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Despite NFL success, Jerrell Freeman returned to his D3 roots to finish what he started (his degree): http://t.co/4aMaHdbfRx
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