2015 Preseason Award Projections: Butkus Award

By Charlie Campbell
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Heading into the 2015 college football season, WalterFootball.com will debut our projections for the nation’s leaders during the fall. The All-American teams always have some surprises, and the next fall’s stars could be the headline players next May for the 2016 NFL Draft. We also will project the winners of the postseason awards that are given out to the best of college football.

The Butkus Award is given to the top linebacker in college football. Three years ago, we hit on our preseason projection of Te’o winning the Butkus Award, but he was the obvious favorite entering the season. We made it two years in a row with picking C.J. Mosley from Alabama for the 2013 season. Last year, we predicted Denzel Perryman, but it was our choice as the runner-up who won the Butkus Award, UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks.

Butkus Award Winner:

Scooby Wright, Arizona

The Butkus Award favors linebackers with big stat lines, and Wright generated a staggering amount of production last year. After a strong freshman year where he recorded 83 tackles and nine sacks, the sophomore spent 2014 dominating college football. Wright was a play-making force for the Wildcats and one of the top defenders in the Pac-12. He finshed with a total of 14 sacks with 163 tackles, 29 tackles for a loss and six forced fumbles on the season.

Wright was all over the field for the Wildcats last season and was somewhat reminiscent of Luke Kuechly at Boston College. It will be hard for Wright to match those numbers from last year, but even if he comes close, that could still make him far and away the most productive linebacker in college football and the winner of the Butkus Award.




Butkus Runner-Up:

Jaylon Smith, Notre Dame

With all the focus being on Everett Golson and the Fighting Irish quarterback situation last year, Notre Dame’s defense didn’t get much attention despite being a tough unit led by a number of players who will be playing on Sundays. Perhaps the best of the bunch was Smith. The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder had a huge presence for Notre Dame and was consistently making plays for the defense. He showed a nice combination of speed, athleticism, size and instincts.

Smith totaled 112 tackles with nine tackles for a loss, one forced fumble, 3.5 sacks, and two passes defended in 2014. He was only a sophomore last season, so he could easily take his game to another level as an upperclassman. Starring another year for Notre Dame will get Smith plenty of notice, and he could easily be the winner of the Butkus Award.




Butkus Dark Horse:

Myles Jack, UCLA

Jack was a freshman phenom at UCLA in 2013 and followed it up with a superb sophomore season. Jack became a superstar in 2013 as he was named the Pac-12’s Offensive AND Defensive Freshman of the Year. On the defensive side of the ball, Jack had 75 tackles with 11 passes broken up and two interceptions. His pass-coverage skills for a freshman were outstanding. On offense, Jack played running back because of injuries. He ran for 267 yards on 38 carries (7.0 average) with seven touchdowns. Jack racked up 87 tackles with eight tackles for a loss, seven passes broken up, one interception and one forced fumble in 2014. The sophomore’s natural pass-coverage skills were extremely impressive.

The Butkus Award went to a Bruin last year, so I could see the selection committee preferring to go with a player at a different school this year.

Honorable Mentions: Georgia OLB Leonard Floyd, Alabama ILB Reggie Ragland, Missouri ILB Kentrell Brothers, Auburn ILB Kris Frost and Oklahoma OLB Eric Striker.











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