(Wyoming release)
CHICAGO - The Butkus Foundation announced on Monday the finalists for the 35th Annual Butkus Award® honoring the nation’s best linebackers. A total of six collegiate finalists and five high school finalists were announced. Wyoming’s Logan Wilson was selected as one of the six collegiate finalists. Wilson is the only finalist from a non-Autonomous Five conference team.
The six collegiate finalists are:
Butkus Award 2019 Collegiate Finalists
Logan Wilson, Wyoming
Zack Baun, Wisconsin
Jordyn Brooks, Texas Tech
Micah Parsons, Penn State
Isaiah Simmons, Clemson
Evan Weaver, California
Butkus Award 2019 High School Finalists
Jordan Botelho, Saint Louis School, Honolulu, Hawaii
Jackson Bratton, Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Justin Flowe, Upland, Calif.
Antoine Sampah, Woodbridge, Va.
Mekhail Sherman, St. John’s College, Washington, DC
Collegiate and prep winners will be announced on or before Dec. 10. The professional winner will be announced in early 2020. Selection is handled by a panel of 51 coaches, recruiters, scouts and journalists who vote separately and confidentially using a 3-2-1 weighted process, with a write-in option offered. Selectors and selection criteria are posted at www.thebutkusaward.com.
The 2018 Butkus Award winners were:
Professional: Khalil Mack, Chicago Bears
Collegiate: Devin White, LSU (now Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
High School: Nakobe Dean, Horn Lake, Miss. (now Georgia)
The Butkus Award® is presented by the Butkus Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization which advances health and wellness through special initiatives. This includes the I Play Clean® program encouraging athletes to play using their natural ability, and the Butkus Takes Heart™ program encouraging preventive heart scans and screening among adults.
The Butkus Award a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored more than 800 since 1935.
