The long wait is nearly over as football fans are less than two months away from the start of the 2014 college football season. With the season approaching, the presenters of various college football awards have started releasing their "watch lists" for the season.
The organizers of the Butkus Award (top linebacker) released a list of 51 players. The list is led by UCLA's Myles Jack, Mississippi State's Bernardrick McKinney, Miami's Denzel Perryman and Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith. Georgia has three players on the list, the most of any school: Leonard Floyd, Jordan Jenkins and Ramik Wilson. Alabama's C.J. Mosley -- a first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens -- won the Butkus Award last season.
Butkus Award watch list
Stephone Anthony, Clemson
Kelby Brown, Duke
Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil, Maryland
Dyshawn Davis, Syracuse
Aaron Davis, Colorado State
Paul Dawson, TCU
Trey DePriest, Alabama
Steve Edmond, Texas
Kyler Fackrell, Utah State
Maurice Falls, East Carolina
Leonard Floyd, Georgia
Kris Frost, Auburn
Alani Fua, BYU
Jarrett Grace, Notre Dame
Curtis Grant, Ohio State
Bryce Hager, Baylor
Ben Heeney, Kansas
Jordan Hicks, Texas
Zach Hodges, Harvard
Mike Hull, Penn State
Myles Jack, UCLA
Jordan Jenkins, Georgia
A.J. Johnson, Tennessee
Taiwan Jones, Michigan State
Eric Kendricks, UCLA
Hau'oli Kikaha, Washington
Derrick Malone, Oregon
Tyler Matakevich, Temple
Derrick Matthews, Houston
Lorenzo Mauldin, Louisville
Benardrick McKinney, Mississippi State
Braylon Mitchell, Arkansas
Mason Monheim, Illinois
Mike Orakpo, Texas State
Norkeithus Otis, North Carolina
Denzel Perryman, Miami (Fla.)
Terrance Plummer, UCF
Sunny Puetasi, Wyoming
Hayes Pullard, USC
Reggie Ragland, Alabama
Jake Ryan, Michigan
Stephon Sanders, SMU
Frank Shannon, Oklahoma
Jaylon Smith, Notre Dame
Terrance Smith, Florida State
Eric Striker, Oklahoma
A.J. Tarpley, Stanford
John Tavai, USC
Shaq Thompson, Washington
James Vaughters, Stanford
Ramik Wilson, Georgia
