Butkus Award

Template:Infobox sports award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker, Dick Butkus, is presented by the Butkus Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports a number of health and wellness activities including the "I Play Clean" anti-steroid program. The award was first established by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, which relinquished control of the award in 2008 following a lawsuit by Butkus.

Traditionally, the award was given only to the top collegiate linebacker. The Butkus Award was expanded in 2008 to include high school and professional winners as part of a makeover by the Butkus family to help end anabolic steroid abuse among young athletes. Two players have won both the high school and collegiate Butkus Awards: Notre Dame linebackers Manti Te'o (2008, 2012) and Jaylon Smith (2012, 2015).

Recipients

Collegiate winners

Year	Player	School
1985	Brian Bosworth	Oklahoma
1986	Brian Bosworth	Oklahoma
1987	Paul McGowan	Florida State
1988	Derrick Thomas	Alabama
1989	Percy Snow	Michigan State
1990	Alfred Williams	Colorado
1991	Erick Anderson	Michigan
1992	Marvin Jones	Florida State
1993	Trev Alberts	Nebraska
1994	Dana Howard	Illinois
1995	Kevin Hardy	Illinois
1996	Matt Russell	Colorado
1997	Andy Katzenmoyer	Ohio State
1998	Chris Claiborne	USC
1999	LaVar Arrington	Penn State
2000	Dan Morgan	Miami
2001	Rocky Calmus	Oklahoma
2002	E. J. Henderson	Maryland
2003	Teddy Lehman	Oklahoma
2004	Derrick Johnson	Texas
2005	Paul Posluszny	Penn State
2006	Patrick Willis	Ole Miss
2007	James Laurinaitis	Ohio State
2008	Aaron Curry	Wake Forest
2009	Rolando McClain	Alabama
2010	Von Miller	Texas A&M
2011	Luke Kuechly	Boston College
2012	Manti Te'o	Notre Dame
2013	C.J. Mosley	Alabama
2014	Eric Kendricks	UCLA
2015	Jaylon Smith	Notre Dame
2016	Reuben Foster	Alabama
2017	Roquan Smith	Georgia
2018	Devin White	LSU

Professional winners

Year	Player	Team
2008	DeMarcus Ware	Dallas Cowboys
2009	Patrick Willis	San Francisco 49ers
2010	Clay Matthews III	Green Bay Packers
2011	Terrell Suggs	Baltimore Ravens
	DeMarcus Ware	Dallas Cowboys
2012	Von Miller	Denver Broncos
2013	NaVorro Bowman	San Francisco 49ers
2014	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers
2015	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers
2016–17	Khalil Mack	Oakland Raiders
2017–18	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers
2018–19	Khalil Mack	Chicago Bears

High school winners

Year	Player	School
2008	Manti Te'o	Punahou School (Honolulu, HI)
2009	Jordan Hicks	Lakota West High School (West Chester, OH)
2010	Tony Steward	Pedro Menendez High School (St. Augustine, FL)
2011	Noor Davis	Leesburg High School (Leesburg, FL)
2012	Jaylon Smith	Bishop Luers High School (Fort Wayne, IN)
2013	Raekwon McMillan	Liberty County High School (Hinesville, GA)
2014	Malik Jefferson	Ralph H. Poteet High School (Mesquite, TX)
2015	Caleb Kelly	Clovis West High School (Fresno, CA)
2016	Dylan Moses	IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL)
2017	Solomon Tuliaupupu	Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, CA)
2018	Nakobe Dean	Horn Lake High School (Horn Lake, MS)

External links

• Official website