Football: “Big Kat” Named Honorary Captain for Game Today vs. YSU – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Former Buckeye All-American linebacker Anyd Katzenmoyer will serve as Ohio State’s honorary captain Saturday vs. Youngstown State. OSU’s first Butkus Award winner will join Boeckman, Jenkins, Laurinaitis and Robiskie at coin toss.
Andy Katzenmoyer – 1997 BUTKUS AWARD WINNER
Andy Katzenmoyer started the first game of his freshman year in 1996 and was a regular for 37 consecutive games. He opted for an NFL career at the end of his junior season. He won a plethora of awards, including the 1997 Butkus Award and consensus All-America honors as a sophomore, and the 1996 Football News and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He was a three-time all-Big Ten selection and a two-time finalist for the Lombardi Award.
Katzenmoyer amassed three-year statistical totals of 197 solo tackles, 256 total tackles, 50 tackles-for-loss, 192 yards in losses, 18 quarterback sacks and six interceptions. He was twice named the team’s Randy Gradishar Award winner as best linebacker (1997-98). He scored twice on interceptions, vs. Minnesota as a freshman and vs. Arizona as a sophomore, tying a school record for interception return TDs. He also tied the school record with five tackles-for-loss in a game (vs. Arizona State in the 1997 Rose Bowl).
A consensus All-American as a sophomore in 1997, he became only the second sophomore to win the Butkus Award as the nation’s outstanding linebacker. He was a Lombardi Award finalist, ranking second on the team with 97 tackles, including 13 tackles-for-loss. He clinched the Arizona win with a 20-yard interception return touchdown. He had 11 tackles against both Arizona and Iowa. In 1996 he became the first freshman to start every game at linebacker for the Buckeyes, finished second on the team with 85 tackles and paced the team with 23 tackles-for-loss and sacks (12), both school records for a linebacker.
As a junior in 1998, Katzenmoyer was a finalist for the Maxwell Football Club’s Defensive Player of the Year Award (in addition to the Lombardi Award) and he anchored the nation’s top-ranked defense against the run and second-ranked total defense. A first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots, his professional career was cut short by injury.
