College Football

College football's best linemen and linebackers: The 2013 Lombardi list

The Lombardi Award honors some of the country's most hard-nosed players.

By Chris Fuhrmeister@ccfuhr Jul 15, 2013, 10:25am EDT

The preseason watch list for the Rotary Lombardi Award was announced Monday. The award is given annually to college football's top lineman or linebacker.

First Name	Last Name	Position	School	Stats
Josh	Allen	C	Louisiana-Monroe	2012 2nd Team All Sun Belt
Jeremiah	Attaochu	LB	Georgia Tech	2012 3rd Team all ACC
Calvin	Barnett	DT	Oklahoma State	2012 All Big 12, 2012 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year
Anthony	Barr	LB	UCLA	2012 2nd Team All American
Chris	Borland	LB	Wisconsin	2012 All Big 10,104 Tackles
Morgan	Breslin	DL	USC	2012 2nd Team All Pac 12
Preston	Brown	LB	Louisville	2012 2nd Team All Big East Team
Vince	Buhaglar	LB	San Jose State	2012 All WAC, 3 Time Academic All WAC
Austen	Bujnoch	G	Cincinnati	2012 All Big East
Max	Bullough	LB	Michigan State	2012 All Big 10, 111 Tackles
Chris	Burnette	G	Georgia	2012 2nd Team All SEC, 2 Year SEC Academic Honor Roll
Ryan	Carrethers	DT	Arkansas State	2012 All Sun Belt
Le'Raven	Clark	G	Texas Tech	2012 Freshman All American
Jadeveon	Clowney	DE	South Carolina	2012 All American, 2012 Lombardi Award Finalist
La'El	Collins	G	LSU	2012 Honorable Mention All SEC
Scott	Crichton	DE	Oregon State	2012 All Pac 12
Tyeler	Davison	NG	Fresno State	2012 All Mountain Wes
Aaron	Donald	DE	Pittsburgh	2012 All Big East
Jake	Doughty	LB	Utah State	2012 All WAC, 3 Time Academic All WAC
Dominique	Easley	DT	Florida	2013 3rd Team Preseason All American
IK	Enemkpali	DT	Louisiana Tech	2012 All WAC
Kyler	Fackrell	LB	Utah State	2012 All WAC, 2012 Freshman All American
Jake	Fely	LB	San Diego State	2012 2nd Team All Mountain West
Devonte	Fields	DE	TCU	2012 All Big 12, 2012 Big 12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year
BJ	Finney	C	Kansas State	2012 All Big 12, 2011 Freshman All American
Dominic	Flewellyn	G	Bowling Green	2012 3rd Team All MAC, Team Captain, 2012 Academic All MAC
Ben	Gardner	DE	Stanford	2012 2nd Team All Pac 12
David	Gilbert	DE	Wisconsin	2012 Honorable Mention All Big 10
Hroniss	Grasu	C	Oregon	2012 All Pac 12
Ryan	Groy	OL	Wisconsin	2012 2nd Team All Big 10
Ra'Shede	Hageman	DT	Minnesota	2012 Honorable Mention All Big 10, 35 Tackles, 6 Sacks
Bryce	Hager	LB	Baylor	2012 2nd Team All Big 12
Ben	Heeney	LB	Kansas	2012 2nd Team All Big 12
Brock	Hekking	DE	Nevada	2012 2nd Team All Mountain West
Anthony	Hitchens	LB	Iowa	2012 2nd Team All Big 10
Adrian	Hubbard	LB	Alabama	2013 2nd Team Pre Season All American,
Chucky	Hunter	DT	TCU	2012 2nd Team All Big 12
James	Hurst	T	North Carolina	2012 All ACC, 2010 Freshman All American
Kerry	Hyder	DE	Texas Tech	2012 All Big 12
Martin	Ifedi	DE	Memphis	2012 2nd Team All Conference USA
Gabe	Ikard	C	Oklahoma	2012 All Big 12, 2nd Team Academic All American
Andrew	Jackson	LB	Western Kentucky	2012 All Sun Belt
Gabe	Jackson	G	Mississippi State	2012 2nd Team All American, 2012 All SEC
Tre'	Jackson	G	Florida State	2012 2nd Team All ACC
Jackson	Jeffcoat	DE	Texas	2011 2nd Team All Big 12
Timmy	Jernigan	DT	Florida State	2012 2nd Team All ACC
AJ	Johnson	LB	Tennessee	2012 2nd Team All SEC, 2011 Freshman All American
Anthony	Johnson	DT	LSU	2011 Freshman All American
Kaleb	Johnson	T	Rutgers	2012 2nd Team All Big East, 2011 Freshman All American
Wesley	Johnson	T	Vanderbilt	2012 Honorable Mention ALL SEC
Tyler	Johnstone	T	Oregon	2012 Freshman All American
Christian	Jones	LB	Florida State	2012 2nd Team All ACC
Nicholas	Kaspar	G	San Jose State	2012 All WAC
Zac	Kerin	C	Toledo	2012 All MAC
Cyrus	Kouandijio	T	Alabama	2013 Pre Season 2nd Team All American
Tyler	Larsen	C	Utah State	2012 All WAC, 2 Time All WAC, 2011 Academic All WAC
Demarcus	Lawrence	DE	Boise State	2012 All Mountain West
Eric	Lefeld	T	Cincinnati	2012 All Big East
Charles	Leno	T	Boise State	2012 2nd Team All Mountain West
Taylor	Lewan	T	Michigan	2012 All American, 35 Starts
Spencer	Long	G	Nebraska	2012 2nd Team All American, Big Ten All Academic
Antwan	Lowery	G	Rutgers	2012 All Big East
Aaron	Lynch	DE	South Florida	2011 Freshman All American
Khalil	Mack	LB	Buffalo	2012 All MAC
Gabe	Martin	LB	Bowling Green	2012 All MAC
Zack	Martin	G	Notre Dame	2012 2nd Team All American, 2012 All Independent
Jake	Matthews	T	Texas A&M	2012 3rd Team All American, 2012 All SEC
Morgan	Moses	T	Virginia	2012 Honorable Mention All ACC
CJ	Mosley	LB	Alabama	2012 All American
Trent	Murphy	LB	Stanford	2012 3rd Team All American, 2012 All Pac 12
Jonathan	Newsome	LB	Ball State	2012 2nd Team All MAC
Louis	Nix	DT	Notre Dame	2012 All Independent
Roosevelt	Nix	DE	Kent State	2012 All MAC
Denzel	Nkemdiche	LB	Mississippi	2012 2nd Team All SEC, 2011 Freshman All American
Andrew	Norwell	G	Ohio State	2012 All Big 10
Cedric	Ogbuehi	T	Texas A&M	2013 3rd Team Pre Season All American
Zack	Orr	LB	North Texas	2012 2nd Team All Sun Belt
Alex	Page	DE	South Alabama	2012 2nd Team All Sun Belt
Hayes	Pullard	LB	USC	2012 Hon Mention All Pac 12, 2011 Freshman All American
Travis	Raciti	DT	San Jose State	2012 All WAC, 52 Tackles
Antonio	Richardson	T	Tennessee	2012 2nd Team All SEC
Cyril	Richardson	G	Baylor	2012 2nd Team All American, 2012 Big 12 Lineman of the Year,
Weston	Richburg	C	Colorado State	2010, 2012 Honorable Mention All Mountain West
Jake	Ryan	LB	Michigan	2012 2nd Team All Big 10
Eric	Schultz	G	Utah State	2012 All WAC, 3 Time Academic All WAC
Tyler	Scott	DE	Northwestern	2012 Honorable Mention All Big 10, Academic All Big 10
Issac	Seumalo	C	Oregon State	2012 Freshman All American, 2012 Honorable Mention All Pac 12
Ryan	Shazier	LB	Ohio State	2012 2nd Team All Big 10
Prince	Shembo	LB	Notre Dame	2012 Honorable Mention All Independent
Shayne	Skov	LB	Stanford	2010, 2012 Hon Mention All Pac 12
Jeremiah	Sirles	T	Nebraska	2012 2nd Team All Big 10, 2010 2nd Team Freshman All American
Yawin	Smallwood	LB	Connecticut	2012 All Big East
Chris	Smith	DE	Arkansas	2012 Honorable Mention All SEC
Keith	Smith	LB	San Jose State	2012 All WAC
Anthony	Steen	G	Alabama	2013 3rd Team Pre Season All American
Xavier	Su'a-Filo	G	UCLA	2012 3rd Team All American, 2012 All Pac 12
Will	Sutton	DT	Arizona State	2012 All American
Travis	Swanson	C	Arkansas	2012 Second Team All SEC
Brandon	Thomas	T	Clemson	2012 2nd Team All ACC
Stephon	Tuitt	DE	Notre Dame	2012 2nd Team All American, 2012 All Independent
Jack	Tyler	LB	Virginia Tech	2012 All ACC
John	Urschel	G	Penn State	2012 All Big 10, 2012 Academic All American
Kyle	Van Noy	LB	BYU	2012 3rd Team All American, 2012 All Independent
Brandon	Vitabile	C	Northwestern	2 Time Academic All Big 10
Mason	Walters	G	Texas	2012 Honorable Mention All Big 12, 2011 2nd Team All Big 12
Austin	Wentworth	T	Fresno State	2012 All Mountain West
David	Yankey	T	Stanford	2012 All American, 2012 All Pac 12

On the defensive side, we'll consider Jadeveon Clowney, Jackson Jeffcoat, Will Sutton, Louis Nix III, Anthony Barr, C.J. Mosley, and Kyle Van Noy the favorites, as they made SB Nation's preseason All-America first team.

While offensive linemen are eligible, in recent history, the Lombardi Award has been almost exclusively given to defensive players. The last 16 winners have played defense, with the last offensive lineman to garner the honor coming when Ohio State's Orlando Pace won it in 1995 and '96. In 2012, the committee gave the award to Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. The last defensive lineman to win was Auburn's Nick Fairley in 2010.

Ohio State leads the way with six winners all time, edging out Nebraska and Notre Dame, who have five each. Four other schools -- Oklahoma and Texas with three, Auburn and Florida State with two -- can claim multiple Lombardi winners.