Yep, it’s that time of the year again.
Wednesday afternoon, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation became the first of a slew of awards to release a preseason watch list, with 42 players making up the initial group for the Lott IMPACT Trophy. There are 17 linebackers, eight defensive ends, seven safeties, five cornerbacks, three defensive tackles and two players listed as defensive backs for an award that’s given annually to the player who has the biggest IMPACT — Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity – on their teams both on and off the field.
There are no finalists or semifinalists from last year’s award, won by UCLA’s Anthony Barr, on this season’s watch list as each has moved on to the NFL.
Of the six schools with two players on the initial watch list, four are from the Pac-12: Stanford (CB Wayne Lyons, S Jordan Richards), UCLA (LBs Myles Jack and Eric Kendricks), USC (LB Hayes Pullard, DT Leonard Williams) and Washington (DE Hau’oli Kikaha, DT Danny Shelton). The only other schools with more than one on the list were Duke (LBs Kelby Brown and David Helton) and Nebraska (S Corey Cooper, DE Randy Gregory).
Not so unexpectedly based on the above, the Pac-12 paced all conferences with 11 players listed, followed by the SEC (eight), the Big 12 and Big Ten (seven apiece), the ACC (six) and Mountain West (one). Independent programs (Army, Notre Dame) accounted for the remaining two.
The 11th Lott Trophy will be handed out Dec. 14 this year.
For the complete Lott Trophy watch list, see below:
Geoffrey Bacon, DB, Army
Vic Beasley, DE, Clemson
Michael Bennett, DT, Ohio State
Kelby Brown, LB, Duke
Shilique Calhoun, DE, Michigan State
Sam Carter, S, TCU
Henry Coley, LB, Virginia
Landon Collins, S, Alabama
Corey Cooper, S, Nebraska
Ronald Darby, CB, Florida State
Michael Doctor, LB, Oregon State
Alvin “Bud” Dupree, DE, Kentucky
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB, Oregon
Collin Ellis, LB, Northwestern
Cole Farrand, LB, Maryland
Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska
Bryce Hager, LB, Baylor
Vernon Hargreaves, DB, Florida
David Helton, LB, Duke
Myles Jack, LB, UCLA
A.J. Johnson, LB, Tennessee
Karl Joseph, S, West Virginia
Eric Kendricks, LB, UCLA
Hau’oli Kikaha, DE, Washington
Ben Kline, LB, Penn State
Cameron Lynch, LB, Syracuse
Wayne Lyons, CB, Stanford
Jaylen Milles, CB, LSU
Jonathon Mincy, CB, Auburn
Ryan Mueller, DE, Kansas State
Cory Morrissey, DE, Iowa State
Hayes Pullard, LB, USC
Cedric Reed, DE, Texas
Jordan Richards, S, Stanford
Deterrian Shackleford, LB, Ole Miss
Danny Shelton, DT, Washington
Derron Smith, S, Fresno State
Jaylon Smith, LB, Notre Dame
Eric Striker, LB, Oklahoma
Jared Tevis, S, Arizona
Leonard Williams, DT, USC
Ramik Wilson, LB, Georgia