Coleman on Watch List!

Ohio State safety Kurt Coleman has been named to the 2009 Lott Trophy Watch List, it was announced Wednesday, April 8th by Ronnie Lott at a luncheon in Newport Beach, Ca.

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FB: Kurt Coleman On Lott Trophy Watch List

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Six Big Ten players on Lott Trophy watch list

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Penn State linebacker Sean Lee leads a group of five Big Ten defenders named today to the 2009 Lott Trophy watch list. The Lott Trophy, won by Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis last year, is given to the defensive IMPACT player of the year, who reflects integrity, maturity, performance, academics, community and tenacity.
The five Big Ten nominees…
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3-time All-America Laurinaitis heads AP team

NEW YORK (AP) — James Laurinaitis idolized A.J. Hawk, Chris Spielman and the other great linebackers who played for Ohio State before him.

 

Now, in at least one area, he has surpassed them.

 

Laurinaitis became the second college football player to be a three-time AP All-American, joining Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and star receiver Michael Crabtree on the first team released Tuesday.

 

Ohio State has a history of great linebackers from Hawk to Spielman and Tom Cousineau to Randy Gradishar. Hawk and Spielman were both two-time AP All-Americans.

“When people throw my name in that group of players, I just laugh,” Laurinaitis said. “It’s extremely complimentary to be thought of in the same category.”

 

The only other player to make the AP first-team three times was Pittsburgh offensive lineman Bill Fralic (1982-84), according to STATS LLC.

 

Alabama put more players on the 2008 AP first team than any school, about 1,000 pounds of linemen. Offensive tackle Andre Smith, listed at 330 pounds, was a unanimous first-team choice, and was joined by center Antoine Caldwell. Crimson Tide nose guard Terrence Cody, listed at 365 pounds, anchored the top-ranked defense in the Southeastern Conference.

 

Bradford beat out Texas’ Colt McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow in All-America voting that broke the same way as the Heisman balloting. McCoy, the Heisman runner-up, was the second-team quarterback. Tebow made the third team, a year after winning the Heisman and being a first-team AP All-American.

 

Laurinaitis and Crabtree, the Texas Tech receiver, were among five players to repeat as first-teamers.

 

Oklahoma guard Duke Robinson, Cincinnati punter Kevin Huber and Missouri receiver/kick returner Jeremy Maclin, who made it as an all-purpose player, were the others.

 

Two Big Ten running backs completed the All-America backfield. Iowa’s Shonn Greene is second in the country in rushing (144 yards per game) and has scored 17 touchdowns. Michigan State’s Javon Ringer is third in rushing (132 ypg) and has scored 21 touchdowns.

 

Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant was the other receiver. A sophomore like Crabtree, Bryant scored 20 touchdowns.

 

Rounding out the offensive line were Mississippi tackle Michael Oher and LSU guard Herman Johnson.

 

Chase Coffman, who led all tight ends with 83 catches, gave Missouri’s high-scoring offense two All-Americans.

 

Utah’s Louie Sakoda was the kicker. He booted 21 field goals in 23 attempts and scored 115 points for the undefeated Utes.

 

The defense featured Laurinaitis’ teammate, cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, and two players from Southern California’s top-ranked unit: linebacker Rey Maualuga and safety Taylor Mays.

 

Florida’s Brandon Spikes was the other linebacker.

 

Up front, Aaron Maybin of Penn State and Brian Orakpo of Texas were the defensive ends, and Cody and Mississippi’s Peria Jerry were the tackles.

 

Wake Forest cornerback Alphonso Smith and Tennessee safety Eric Berry completed the secondary.

 

Laurinaitis was recruited by the Buckeyes out of Minnesota, and came to Columbus with relatively modest goals considering where he ended up.

 

He wanted to make the travel squad as a freshman, start as a sophomore, receive some type of all-Big Ten recognition as a junior and be an All-American and Butkus Award candidate as a senior.

 

By the time his sophomore season was complete, he had accomplished all his goals.

 

Laurinaitis said having Hawk and fellow star linebacker Bobby Carpenter, both seniors when he was a freshman, to learn from had an enormous affect his career.

 

“You learned a lot about work ethic,” Laurinaitis said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We’d go through a two-day (practice) and I’m looking to go to sleep and those guys were in the weight room working out. If it worked for them, I had to do it.”

 

When Carpenter and Hawk moved on to the NFL, Laurinaitis moved into the starting lineup in 2006. The son of a professional wrestler — Joe Laurinaitis was known as “Animal” from the WWE’s Legion of Doom — James drew plenty of attention for his play and his family ties.

 

He led the Buckeyes with 115 tackles and five interceptions and won the Nagurski Award as national defensive player of the year.

 

In 2007, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Laurinaitis won the Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker and this season he capped his stellar three-year run with the Lott Trophy for top defensive player.

 

“I’m not the freak athlete other guys are,” Laurinaitis said, “but I’m the guy coaches can depend on to be accountable and know my assignments.”

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Buckeye Honors

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor was named Sporting News magazine’s Freshman of the Year & All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis was named Defensive Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference.

For details and more Sporting News winners, Click Here!

James Laurinaitis was also named the winner of the 2008 Lott Trophy as college football’s impact player of the year. For full story, click here!

39 Current and Former Ohio State Student athletes received degrees at The Ohio State University’s 2008 Autumn Commencement. Click here for more!

Fans can help vote for Coach Jim Tressel to win the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. Click here to learn how

Archie Griffin remains the only 2 time Heisman trophy winner  as Sam Bradford takes home that title. Click here for more.

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Little Animal Locks Down The Lott

After losing out on a number of awards he was up for last Thursday, James Laurinaitis finally took one home. The “Little Animal” was named the winner of the 2008 Lott Trophy on Sunday, an award given to the nation’s Defensive IMPACT Player Of The Year. The word IMPACT in the award is an acronym for  Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. I could not think of a better description of James Laurinaitis.

Laurinaitis, the two-year Buckeyes captain, lead the team with 121 tackles (5.5 TFL) and also chipped in with 4.5 sacks and 2 interceptions during his senior campaign. He was named  first team All-American (three-time), first team All Big-Ten (three-time), and Big-Ten defensive player of the year (second in a row). He also was a star off the field and in the Columbus community, as he is known for his philanthropic work and dedication to giving back in the area.

The Lott Trophy was named after Pro and College Football Hall-Of-Famer Ronnie Lott. Lott played for USC, where he was a two time All-American, and later played in the NFL mostly for the San Francisco 49ers, where he won four Super Bowls, and was sent to the Pro-Bowl ten times. Lott also was someone who was involved in the community and always displayed IMPACT, just like Laurinaitis does.

Congratualations, James, on this prestious award. It will look very good in your trophy case, along with the 2007 Butkus Award, 2006 Bronco Nagurski Award, the 2006 and 2007 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and all the other hardware you have accumulated in your four years at Ohio State. Thank you for coming back this year and DTI wishes you the best in the future. GO BUCKS!

 photo courtesy of ohiostatebuckeyes.com

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Laurinaitis Wins Lott Trophy

Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis was named the winner of the 2008 Lott Trophy as college football’s impact player of the year in ceremonies this past weekend at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Calif.

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Lott Finalist, Again!

James Laurinaitis has twice been honored as a finalist for the Lott Trophy, the only major college football award that gives equal weight to athletic achievement and personal character.

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Laurinaitis named finalist for Lott Trophy

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

Ohio State senior linebacker James Laurinaitis, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, has been named one of four finalists for the Lott Trophy. Laurinaitis joins Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo, Florida State safety Myron Rolle and Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry on the list of finalists. 

The Lott Trophy honors the defensive impact player of the year and recognizes a player’s character attributes in addition to his athletic achievements.

“He’s a talented yet humble young man who brings enormous credit to the game of college football,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Laurinaitis. “He represents Ohio State with poise and class.”

Laurinaitis led Ohio State and ranked second in the Big Ten with 121 tackles this season. 

The Lott Trophy winner will be announced Dec. 14 in Newport Beach, Calif. 

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Buckeyes Consider Themselves Dogs

COLUMBUS, Ohio — What’s brewing with the 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes?

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Rory Nicol says he doesn’t have time to think about anybody else but himself and his teammates. It’s almost an indoctrination for a college athlete.

He said coaches try to get players to focus, focus, focus to the point where they have little time or energy for anything outside their sphere.

“We’re like these trained dogs. We’re trained to think about ourselves,” he said. “But that’s the best way to go about things then there’s no distractions. I don’t worry about what (Illinois LB) Brit Miller is saying about me. I could care less what he thinks. I care that when I play on Saturday that I do my best and that this team wins because, obviously, there’s some animosity between us and Illinois.”

Nicol said he’s not alone in making the correlation to canines.

“Malcolm (Jenkins) refers to us as ‘We’re dogs’ and ‘We’ve got killer instincts,”‘ he said.

TRESSELESE: Tressel on QB Terrelle Pryor’s progress on his footwork and how it affects play selection: “Typically the play selection is based upon what the defense is doing and if they work, usually your feet are right or the protection is right or the route was run right. And we may have – we may have tailored down some because we had a little bit of time to study ourselves and which are we doing better, what can we block well enough, et cetera, et cetera, but then when you get into the course of the game, if they’re doing what they’ve shown, which interestingly enough, Northwestern came out and they’d run a tight defense the whole nine games leading up and they played stack defense the whole game. Hadn’t played it all year, but that’s what happens sometimes. So you have to get adjusted to that. The coverages didn’t change much, but their front totally changed and our guys had to adjust to that and you have some growing pains as you’re going through a significant change, but what we do in the course of the game is based on what they do.”

TAKING THE BALL FIRST: Fans may have wondered why Ohio State has frequently had the ball first to start games this season.

The answer is twofold. First, the Buckeyes captains have won eight of nine coin flips – each time calling tails.

Second, after winning the coin flip, Ohio State has been electing to take the ball instead of deferring to the second half. Tressel said the reason is a rule change that moved the kickoffs back from the 35 to the 30.

“We didn’t start doing that until last year, and that was because kicking from the 30, we thought that you have a chance even with an average return to be out to the 25,” he said. “When the ball was being kicked from the 35 and so many balls were going as touchbacks, we didn’t necessarily think that that’s an advantage starting on the 20, so we thought, well, let’s begin the game with some field position. We’ve won the toss a lot this year. It’s amazing.”

LIST-MAKER: LB James Laurinaitis was announced Wednesday as one of three finalists for the Lombardi Award, given annually to the best front-seven defender in college football.

Laurinaitis, a finalist a year ago when LSU’s Glenn Dorsey won, is joined by USC LB Rey Maualuga, Texas DE Brian Orakpo and Alabama OL Andre Smith.

Ohio State players have won the award more than those from any other school. The winner will be announced on Dec. 10.

Laurinaitis was also selected as a semifinalist for the Lott Trophy, which goes to an athlete based on athletic performance and personal character. He was a finalist last year.

Four finalists will be announced Nov. 26, with the winner revealed Dec. 14.

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