Another post this fine Thursday morning, another postseason college football award update. At least it’s not a portal post, right?
The Lott Trophy, which annually recognizes the defensive player who makes the biggest IMPACT on his team both on and off the field, announced Wednesday that it has pared its preseason watch list down to 20 quarterfinalists for the 2019 version of the award. All five Power Five conferences are represented, as is one Group of Five league (Mountain West) and one football independent (Army).
The Big Ten leads all conferences with seven quarterfinalists, followed by the Pac-12 with five. Both the Big 12 and SEC have two apiece, while the ACC comes in with one.
The only two Group of Five representatives come from Boise State and Utah State of the MWC.
Linebackers far and away dominate the quarterfinalists position-wise with an even dozen. There are also four linebackers and four defensive backs.
Last year’s winner was Kentucky’s Josh Allen. Back in 2004, Georgia’s David Pollack was the inaugural winner of the award named in honor of former USC great Ronnie Lott.
Below is the complete list of 2019 quarterfinalists:
Paulson Adebo, CB, Stanford
Mo Barry, LB, Nebraska
Joe Bachie, LB, Michigan State
Derrick Brown, DL, Auburn
Myles Bryant, DB, Washington
Cole Christiansen, LB, Army
Troy Dye, LB, Oregon
A.J. Epenesa, DE, Iowa
Jordan Fuller, DB, Ohio State
Cale Garrett, LB, Missouri
Yetur Gross-Matos, DL, Penn State
Khaleke Hudson, LB/S, Michigan
Brandon Jones, DB, Texas
Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma
Chris Orr, LB, Wisconsin
Colin Schooler, LB, Arizona
Isaiah Simmons, LB, Clemson
Curtis Weaver, DL, Boise State
Evan Weaver, LB, Cal
David Woodward, LB, Utah State