It's been a season to forget for the BC Eagles, but not all of it has been a complete disappointment.
Boston College junior Luke Kuechly has been named a finalist for the 27th annual Butkus Award honoring the nations top linebacker, according to an announcement by the Butkus Foundation on Tuesday. Finalists were selected by a panel of 51 coaches, scouts and journalists supervised by Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly. The winner will be announced on or before Dec. 7.
Standing at 6-foot-3, 237 pounds, Kuechly leads all collegiate players in the country with 96 solo tackles and 182 total tackles in 11 games this season.
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Kuechly is one of six finalist up for the award, and stands as good a shot to win as the rest of them: Lavonte David (Nebraska), Donta Hightower (Alabama), Jarvis Jones (Georgia), Manti Teo (Notre Dame) and Courtney Upshaw (Alabama).
Kuechly has recorded 523 career tackles, including 293 solo tackles, in 36 career games and is averaging 14.1 tackles per game and 7.9 solo tackles per game. All four standards are unmatched among active collegiate football players. He is one takedown shy of matching his own ACC record for tackles in a season, which he established last year, and one shy of the schools career record set by linebacker Stephen Boyd (1991-94).
He has registered 10 or more tackles in 33 (of 36) games since making his collegiate debut against Northeastern on Sept. 5, 2009.
But the Butkis Award isn't all that Kuechly is up for this season. He's also been named a finalist for the Rotary Lombardi Award given to the nations top lineman or linebacker and the Bronko Nagurski Award given to the National Defensive Player of the Year.
Those awards will also be announced in early-to-mid December.
Kuechly is a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award as well as the Lott IMPACT Trophy given to the Defensive Impact Player of the Year.
Boston College (3-8, 2-5 ACC) will face Miami (6-5, 3-4 ACC) in the final game of the 2011 season on Friday, Nov. 25 at 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC.