Tennessee football linebacker Jalen Reeves Maybin is among nine Volunteers named for postseason awards. The senior is now on the 2016 Butkus Watch List.
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Following in the footsteps of fellow Tennessee Vols defensive player Cameron Sutton, outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin was named to his third preseason watch list for a postseason award Tuesday.
The vocal leader of the football team was one of about 50 players named to the 2016 Butkus Award Watch List, given to the top college football linebacker in the country every year.
Sutton was put on the preseason Jim Thorpe Award Watch List Monday, which is awarded to the nation’s top defensive back.
Both players are also up for two other awards that go to the nation’s top defensive player at the end of every year.
Unlike Sutton, though, Reeves-Maybin would be the first Vol to ever win the Butkus Award. However, he shouldn’t be the first Vol to win the award.
Al Wilson should have run away with the award in 1998 after the way he carried the Vols to the national championship through his play on the field and through his leadership.
Named after NFL Hall-of-Famer Dick Butkus, the Butkus Award has been given out to the top linebacker in college football every year since 1985.
The semifinalists for the award will be announced on Oct. 31, the finalists will be announced on Nov. 21, and the winner will be announced on Dec. 6.
While Reeves-Maybin and Sutton are both up for three awards each, other Vols on watch lists for postseason awards include Derek Barnett, Dylan Wiesman, Coleman Thomas, Ethan Wolf, Jalen Hurd, Joshua Dobbs, and Trevor Daniel.