Aug. 14, 2008

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior linebacker Russell Allen (Oceanside, Calif.) has been named to the 2008 Butkus Award Watch List for the second consecutive season. Allen is one of 66 candidates up for the annual honor, which is presented to the nation's best collegiate linebacker.

A preseason all-Mountain West Conference selection, he led SDSU in tackles a year ago with 119 and ranked first in the league in tackles per conference outing (10.6). Allen broke a 36-year-old school single-game record with 22 stops against Utah in 2007 to garner MWC player-of-the-week honors for the second time in his career. The Aztecs' only non-senior team captain last season, he earned honorable mention all-league accolades and enters 2008 with 268 career stops, 12.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions.

Allen is just the second Aztec linebacker to be named to the Butkus Award Watch List on more than one occasion, joining current Oakland Raiders standout Kirk Morrison (2002, 2003, 2004), who was one of 12 semifinalists for the award his senior campaign. Matt McCoy, who plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was also named to the watch list in 2004.

The Butkus Award, which began in 1985, is named in honor of Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus. The award will be presented by the Butkus Foundation at a ceremony on January 13, 2009, at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, Ill. An independent Butkus Award selection committee, comprised of 51 members, will vote for the winner of the award.

2008 Butkus Award Watch List

Russell Allen #46, San Diego State
Darry Beckwith #11, Louisiana State University
Tray Blackman #10, Auburn
Will Bonilla #27, SMU
Caleb Bostic #44, Miami, OH
Jasper Brinkley #52, South Carolina
Derrick Burrell #19, Kent State
Reggie Carter #51, U.C.L.A.
Jonathan Casillas #2, Wisconsin
Jamar Chaney #22, Mississippi State University
Scotty Cooper #44, Clemson University
Maurice Crum #40, Notre Dame
Rennie Curran #35, Georgia
Aaron Curry #59, Wake Forest
Brian Cushing #10, U.S.C.
Dannell Ellerbe #33, Georgia
Zack Follett #56, University of California - Berkeley
Marcus Freeman #1, Ohio State University
Kevin Grant #30, Akron
Bryant Haines #49, Ball State
Joe Henderson #51, University of Alabama - Birmingham
Robert Henson #51, T.C.U.
Mark Herzlich #94, Boston College
Anthony Heygood #42, Purdue
Daniel Holtzclaw #44, Eastern Michigan
Joey Hudson #48, Miami, OH
Jake Hutton #53, Utah State
Paul Igboeli #31, Utah State
Micah Johnson #4, University of Kentucky
Frantz Joseph #56, Florida Atlantic University
Braxton Kelley #56, University of Kentucky
James Laurinaitis #33, Ohio State University
Boris Lee #2, Troy
Adam Leonard #44, Hawaii
Scott Lutrus #32, University of Connecticut
Ray Maualuga #58, U.S.C.
Josh Mauga #30, Nevada
Pat Maynor #44, Stanford
Rolando McCain #25, Alabama
Rico McCoy #5, Tennesee
Gerald McGrath #24, Southern Mississippi
Tyrone McKenzie #27, University of South Florida
Scott McKillop #40, Pittsburgh
Joe Mortensen #8, University of Kansas
Clayton Mullins #9, Miami, OH
Gerald Munns #47, Arizona State University
Eric Norwood #40, South Carolina
Ben Owens #40, Arkansas State
Ronnie Palmer #33, University of Arizona
Joe Pawelek #41, Baylor University
Dave Philistin #34, Maryland
Jason Phillips #39, T.C.U.
Brian Raines #31, Rice
Ryan Reynolds #8, University of Oklahoma
John Ryan #90, Notre Dame
Frank Scappaticci #49, Army
Clint Sintim #51, Virginia
Clinton Snyder #20, Stanford
Clint Sovie #44, Navy
Brandon Spikes #51, Florida
Stevenson Sylvester #10, Utah
Brian Toal #16, Boston College
Worrell Williams #1, California
Reed Williams #47, West Virginia University
Martez Wilson #2, Illinois
Sean Witherspoon #12, Missouri