quote:
Awards like this almost always take team performance into account. You can get a million tackles if your defense never gets off the field, and you're surrounded by guys not making plays.

UGA guy was the heart of a defense that had Georgia undefeated and ranked #1, and ended up in the playoffs.
Damone was the heart of a defense that kept a few losses respectable, on a 6-6 team.

I'm willing to accept Bama's Will Anderson winning the award over Clark based on the "heart of a playoff team" criteria. His numbers are much closer and he was always on the field and had to be accounted for.

But, apparently the Butkus people didn't think he was a linebacker, even though he was always referred to as one and made SEC first team at Linebacker.

The reality is that most of these awards are based on how well the school pumps up the kid for the award early in the year. At this, I suspect Clark and LSU were behind the curve.

GEAUX TIGERS!

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Posted by mikedatyger

Orlandeaux, FL

Member since Jun 2005

4023 posts

Posted on 12/8/21 at 10:28 am to Thorny

Sent the stats that have been compiled on here and from the Web. Here is the response from the Butkis Foundation ...

"Thanks Michael. Damone was a finalist and received votes in our finalist ballot. He’s an excellent linebacker and has a bright future. Our selection panel of football talent doesn’t rely heavily on stat production because other factors influence stats among linebackers, such as competition, schemes, position, number of plays, etc. It’s the same selection process that earned Devin White the award a few years ago even though he wasn’t in the top 10 in tackles. Although there always is subjectivity, the committee has an excellent pattern of selecting linebackers. One that comes to mind is picking Luke Kuechly from Boston College despite the team having a losing record. Kuechly went on to earn more Butkus Award trophies than anyone else. Being one of the nation’s top linebackers is a huge honor for Damone."
Ron Arp

I did not expect much and they did not deliver much in response.
AND they lied, D White DID have more tackles than the other candidates. Sent them the 2018 candidates. No response.