Just days after being awarded the Bronko Nagurski Award, Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright was named this year’s winner of the Lombardi Award. The Lombardi Award is given to the nation’s top defensive lineman or linebacker by the Rotary Club of Houston.
‘It’s a great honor, but it’s representative of the University of Arizona defense and the whole program,’' Wright said, according to the Associated Press, after winning the Lombardi Award. Asked to identify his favorite play this season, Wright singled out sacking Oregon’s Heisman Trophy favorite quarterback Marcus Mariota in a regular season victory in Eugene and forcing a fumble and picking it up and scoring against rival Arizona.
Wright, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, is a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.
Other finalists for the Lombardi Award included Clemson senior defensive end Vic Beasley, Washington senior linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha and Ohio State sophomore defensive end Joey Bosa.