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Khalil Mack Named to 43rd Annual Rotary Lombardi Award Official Watch List
7/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
BUFFALO, NY - The Rotary Club of Houston announced today the 43rd Annual Rotary Lombardi Award Official Watch List. The Rotary Lombardi Award is given to the nation's top college lineman or linebacker each year. Junior linebacker Khalil Mack was named to the 145-man list, becoming the first player in UB history to earn a spot on the list. This comes less than a week after Mack was named to the Bronco Nagurski Trophy watch list.
He is one of eight Mid-American Conference players to make the list, joining G Eric Herman from Ohio, DL Chris Jones from Bowling Green, C Zac Kerin from Toledo, DE Roosevelt Nix from Kent State, DE Sean Progar from Northern Illinois, OT Brian Winters from Kent State, and LB Dwayne Woods from Bowling Green.
Eligibility for the Rotary Lombardi Award is limited to: offensive or defensive end-to-end down linemen who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball, and linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage. The candidates earned a place on the Official Watch List by: earning All-American honors last season; being named last season to their respective all-conference first team as determined by the conference's head coaches; being projected to be an All-American or first team all-conference player for the coming season; or by nomination approved by the nominations committee.
The Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List is a reference tool for the Selection Committee. It will be periodically revised until the first round of voting is completed. The first round of voting determines the Top 25 Quarter finalists for 2012. The second round of voting will determine the final 7 semi-finalists or "Seven Blocks of Granite". The third round of voting will determine the "four finalists" from the "Seven Blocks of Granite". The fourth and final round of voting will determine the winner of The 43rd Rotary Lombardi Award which will be announced on national television live in "prime-time" 8-9 PM (CST) Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at The Hobby Center in Houston, TX (network to be determined).
Last year's 2011 Rotary Lombardi Award winner, Luke Kuechly (LB-Boston College) was drafted by the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Panthers with the 9th overall pick of the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Other 2011 Rotary Lombardi finalists, Dont'a Hightower (LB - Alabama) was the overall 25th pick in the first round of the NFL draft by the New England Patriots; Courtney Upshaw, (OLB - Alabama) was the overall 35th pick by the Baltimore Ravens; Jonathan Martin (OT-Stanford) was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the Second round and the 42nd pick overall."
For more information on the two-day schedule of events and ticket opportunities, please visit www.rotarylombardiaward.org.
2012 Rotary Lombardi Award Preseason Watch List
OT Oday Aboushi, Virginia
LB Denicos Allen, Michigan State
OT Jacolby Ashworth, Houston
LB Jeremiah Attaochu, Georgia Tech
C Alvin Bailey, Arkansas
LB Dion Bailey, USC
OT David Bakhtiari, Colorado
G Chris Barker, Nevada
C Mario Benavides, Louisville
LB Chris Borland, Wisconsin
LB Jonathan Bostic, Florida
LB Arthur Brown, Kansas State
LB Jonathan Brown, Illinois
LB Travis Brown, Fresno State
DE Michael Buchanan, Illinois
LB Max Bullough, Michigan State
C Nick Carlson, Wyoming
C Braxston Cave, Notre Dame
LB Michael Clay, Oregon
DE Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina
DE/LB Jamie Collins, Southern Miss
G Jonathan Cooper, North Carolina
DE Scott Crichton, Oregon State
LB Kenny Demens, Michigan
DE Aaron Donald, Pittsburgh
TE Tyler Eifert, Notre Dame
TE Gavin Escobar, San Diego State
OT Chris Faulk, LSU
TE Joseph Fauria, UCLA
DE Sharrif Floyd, Florida
OT DJ Fluker, Alabama
G Blaize Foltz, TCU
LB Winston Fraser, FIU
C/G Travis Frederick, Wisconsin
C Dalton Freeman, Clemson
DE Ben Gardner, Stanford
DE James Gayle, Virginia Tech
DE William Gholston, Michigan State
DE Ryne Giddins, USF
LB Khaseem Greene, Rutgers
LB Steve Greer, Virginia
TE Ryan Griffin, Connecticut
LB Jeremy Grove, East Carolina
C Ben Habern, Oklahoma
DT Johnathan Hankins, Ohio State
G Braden Hansen, BYU
G Eric Herman, Ohio
LB Jordan Hicks, Texas
DT Jordan Hill, Penn State
LB Gerald Hodges, Penn State
C Khaled Holmes, USC
DE Wes Horton, USC
DE Margus Hunt, SMU
OT Alex Hurst, LSU
OT James Hurst, North Carolina
G Gabe Ikard, Oklahoma
G Gabe Jackson, Mississippi State
LB Andrew Jackson, Western Kentucky
DE Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas
DE Brandon Jenkins, Florida State
LB Jelani Jenkins, Florida
NT John Jenkins, Georgia
OT Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M
LB Nico Johnson, Alabama
DE Travis Johnson, San Jose State
C/G/T Barrett Jones, Alabama
DL Chris Jones, Bowling Green
OLB Jarvis Jones, Georgia
DE Dion Jordan, Oregon
G Joe Kellogg, Boise State
C Zac Kerin, Toledo
LB A.J. Klein, Iowa State
LB Jake Knott, Iowa State
C Tyler Larsen, Utah State
LB DeDe Lattimore, USF
DE Corey Lemonier, Auburn
OT Taylor Lewan, Michigan
LB Shaun Lewis, Oklahoma State
DE/DT Rob Lohr, Vanderbilt
G Spencer Long, Nebraska
DE/OLB Travis Long, Washington State
DT Star Lotulelei, Utah
TE Philip Lutzenkirchen, Auburn
LB Khalil Mack, Buffalo
LB Trent Mackey, Tulane
C Joe Madsen, West Virginia
DE Stansly Maponga, TCU
OT Zack Martin, Notre Dame
OT Jake Matthews, Texas A&M
G Chris McDonald, Michigan State
DE Barkevious Mingo, LSU
DE Sam Montgomery, LSU
LB Sio Moore, Connecticut
LB James Morris, Iowa
OT Morgan Moses, Virginia
LB C.J. Mosley, Alabama
OT Jeff Nady, Nevada
LB Corey Nelson, Oklahoma
DE Roosevelt Nix, Kent State
DE Alex Okafor, Texas
LB Kevin Pierre-Louis, Boston College
LB Sean Porter, Texas A&M
DE Sean Progar, Northern Illinois
OT Justin Pugh, Syracuse
LB Hayes Pullard, USC
OT David Quessenberry, San Jose State
LB Kevin Reddick, North Carolina
LB Taylor Reed, SMU
G Cyril Richardson, Baylor
C Weston Richburg, Colorado State
DE Marcus Rush, Michigan State
DT Kawann Short, Purdue
DE John Simon, Ohio State
LB Shayne Skov, Stanford
G Adam Smith, Western Kentucky
LB Keith Smith, San Jose State
DT Akeem Spence, Illinois
DT Baker Steinkuhler, Nebraska
TE Jake Stoneburner, Ohio State
LB Bruce Taylor, Virginia Tech
DE Devin Taylor, South Carolina
G Lane Taylor, Oklahoma State
LB Mike Taylor, Wisconsin
LB Manti Te'o, Notre Dame
LB Chase Thomas, Stanford
TE Levine Toilolo, Stanford
G Omoregie Uzzi, Georgia Tech
LB Kyle Van Noy, BYU
DT Joe Vellano, Maryland
OT LaAdrian Waddle, Texas Tech
OT Ricky Wagner, Wisconsin
LB Brian Wagner, Arizona
G Mason Walters, Texas
G Larry Warford, Kentucky
G Chance Warmack, Alabama
C Stephen Warner, Louisiana Tech
DE Bjoern Werner, Florida State
DT Nikita Whitlock, Wake Forest
DE Jesse Williams, Alabama
DT Sylvester Williams, North Carolina
DE Trevardo Williams, Connecticut
TE Luke Willson, Rice
OT Brian Winters, Kent State
LB Dwayne Woods, Bowling Green
G Carson York, Oregon
