Dave Aranda — 2018 FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year

quote:

---

FootballScoop is proud to announce that Dave Aranda is the 2018 FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners. Now a decade in, it’s an extremely rare thing for a coach to take home a FootballScoop Coach of the Year award at two different schools. Dave Aranda is now in that club. Aranda shared the FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year honor with Tim Tibesar at Wisconsin, has now won it again at LSU in 2018. Much like that Wisconsin group in 2015, Aranda’s Tiger linebackers terrorized opponents from sideline to sideline and on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

---

quote:

---

The group was led by junior Devin White, who led both the team and the entire SEC with 123 tackles while posting a team-high 12 tackles for loss. A consistent tackling machine, he recorded double-digit tackles in five games, nine in two games and eight in four more. White won the Butkus Award, signifying his performance as the nation’s top linebacker. He was also named a First Team AP All-American and an First Team All-SEC honoree. But LSU’s linebacking corps was more than just its leader. In all, four Tiger ‘backers posted at least 40 tackles on the season. Sophomore Jacob Phillips trailed White on the team leaderboard with 87 stops on the season, while junior Michael Divinity, Jr., recorded 54 and sophomore Patrick Queen posted 40. Divinty added 10.5 TFLs and tied for the team lead with five sacks. As a unit, LSU finished in the top 25 nationally in total defense (338.7 yards per game) and yards per play (4.81) and fourth in pass efficiency defense (103.99).

---

quote:

---

The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by ProGrass are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Tim DeRuyter and Peter Sirmon [Cal], Bob Gregory and Pete Kwiatkowski [Washington], Jeff Koonz [North Texas] and Aranda) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year’s winner.

---