Montana State senior football athlete Troy Andersen was one of 51 players named to the Butkus Award preseason collegiate watch list on Monday. The award is given annually to the top linebacker in the nation.
Andersen, who was the only current FCS player listed on the Butkus watch list, will redshirt the 2020 season following surgery for a lower leg injury in May.
The Dillon native was named the Big Sky Conference freshman of the year in 2017, playing primarily at the running back position. The following season he was MSU's quarterback and set a program record with 21 rushing touchdowns. Last fall, Andersen rushed for 353 yards and seven touchdowns, threw for one more score and recorded 54 tackles. Andersen had 39 solo stops, 11.5 tackles-for-loss and 6.5 sacks for the Bobcats' defense.
Former North Dakota State linebacker Jabril Cox, who has since transferred to LSU, was also named to the watch list. Alabama's Dylan Moses and Penn State's Micah Parsons are the lone returning finalists on the 2020 Butkus Award watch list.
The Butkus Award was instituted in 1985 and is considered one of the premier individual awards in football. Fifty-one experts, including professional, college and high school scouts, along with prominent sports journalists, make up the selection committee, which also honors the nation's top high school linebacker with the award.
This year's watch list can be found below.
2020 Butkus Award watch list
- Blaze Alldredge, Rice
- Troy Andersen, Montana State
- Rayshard Ashby, Virginia Tech
- Derrick Barnes, Purdue
- Terrel Bernard, Baylor
- Nick Bolton, Missouri
- Tuf Borland, Ohio State
- K.J. Britt, Auburn
- Baron Browning, Ohio State
- Damone Clark, LSU
- Riley Cole, South Alabama
- Jabril Cox, LSU
- Kuony Deng, California
- Paddy Fisher, Northwestern
- Jake Hansen, Illinois
- Treshaun Hayward, Western Michigan
- Lakia Henry, Mississippi
- Anthony Hines, Texas A&M
- Riko Jeffers, Texas Tech
- Buddy Johnson, Texas A&M
- Nate Landman, Colorado
- Shane Lee, Alabama
- Devin Lloyd, Utah
- Carlton Martial, Troy
- Cameron McGrone, Michigan
- Ventrell Miller, Florida
- Dimitri Moore, Vanderbilt
- Dylan Moses, Alabama
- Amen Ogbongbemiga, Oklahoma State
- Azeez Ojulari, Georgia
- Joseph Ossai, Texas
- Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame
- Micah Parsons, Penn State
- Hamilcar Rashed Jr., Oregon State
- Monty Rice, Georgia
- Max Richardson, Boston College
- Merlin Robertson, Arizona State
- Malcolm Rodriguez, Oklahoma State
- Mike Rose, Iowa State
- Jack Sanborn, Wisconsin
- James Skalski, Clemson
- Isaac Slade-Matautia, Oregon
- Charles Snowden, Virginia
- Chazz Surratt, North Carolina
- Erroll Thompson, Mississippi State
- Henry To'o To'o, Tennessee
- Joe Tryon, Washington
- Garret Wallow, TCU
- Pete Werner, Ohio State
- DaShaun White, Oklahoma
- Jahad Woods, Washington State
