Laurinaitis, Jenkins Quarterfinalists For Ronnie Lott Trophy – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
NEWPORT BEACH, CA. OhioState’s Malcolm Jenkins and James Laurinaitis are two of twenty collegiate defensive players to earn a spot on the Lott Trophy quarterfinalist list, it was announced today.
Each of the 20 players have performed at a high level on the football field and exhibited selfless character off the field.
Jenkins is a 6-1, 208-pound Senior Defensive Back from Piscataway, New Jersey. He has 40 tackles on the season and is tied for the team lead in interceptions with three.
Laurinaitis is a 6-3, 244-pound Senior Linebacker from Hamel, Minnesota. He was a Lott finalist a year ago and has already won the Nagurski Award (as a sophomore) and the Butkus Award (as a junior). He leads the Big Ten in total tackles this season with 90.
Named after Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, The Lott Trophy is awarded to college football’s Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Now in its fifth year, The Lott Trophy is the first and only college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player.
“This is another impressive list of candidates,” said Bob Cristiano, the President of the IMPACT Foundation, the sponsors of the award. “They represent the best in college football and a great cross-section of our country. It will be difficult to single out just one of these outstanding student-athletes.”
Seven different conferences are represented on the list of 20 with the Southeastern Conference leading the way with five candidates. OhioState (James Laurinaitis, Malcolm Jenkins) is the only school with two quarterfinalists. There are nine linebackers on the list, seven defensive linemen and four defensive backs. While there are 10 seniors on the list, there are also nine juniors (and one sophomore, Eric Berry), the most underclassmen to make the quarter-finalist Lott Trophy Watch List.
Sponsored by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, the Lott award is given to a player who exhibits the same characteristics Lott embodied during his distinguished career: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.
David Pollack of Georgia, DeMeco Ryans of Alabama, Dante Hughes of Cal and Glenn Dorsey of LSU were the winners of the first four Lott Trophies. Georgia, Alabama, Cal and LSU each received $25,000 for their general scholarship funds. In four years, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation has donated $450,000 to various charities, in addition to the universities.
Voters for the award include selected members of the national media, previous finalists, the Board of Directors of the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation and Legends Coaches, a distinguished group of former head college coaches. The watch list will be trimmed to eight semifinalists on Nov. 11 and the four finalists, who will all be flown into California for the banquet, will be announced Nov. 26.
The winner will be announced at a gala black-tie banquet at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach Dec. 14. (Note: the banquet is sold out)
The keynote speaker will be long-time college football announcer Keith Jackson.
The 20 Quarterfinalists:
Asher Allen, Jr., DB, Georgia
Eric Berry, So., DB, Tennessee
Aaron Curry, Sr., LB, WakeForest
Brian Cushing, Sr., LB, USC
Zack Follett, Sr., LB, Cal
Mark Herzlich, Jr., LB, BostonCollege
George Hypolite, Sr., DT, Colorado
Jeremy Jarmon, Jr., DL, Kentucky
Malcolm Jenkins, Sr., DB, OhioState
Jan Jorgensen, Jr., DE, BYU
James Laurinaitis, Sr., LB, OhioState
Scott McKillop, Sr., LB, Pitt
Brit Miller, Sr., LB, Illinois
Eric Norwood, Jr., LB, South Carolina
Brian Orakpo, Sr., DE, Texas
Nick Reed, Sr., DE, Oregon
Myron Rolle, Jr., S, FloridaState
George Selvie, Jr., DE, South Florida
Brandon Spikes, Jr., LB, Florida
Sean Weatherspoon, Jr., LB, Missouri
For more information on the Lott Trophy, go to: thelotttrophy.com
Contact:
Pete Donovan
Media Relations, The Lott Trophy
76348 Sweet Pea Way
PalmDesert, Ca. 92211
Plays4pars@aol.com
760/360-0414
