Aug. 27, 2008

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior linebacker Russell Allen (Oceanside, Calif.) has been named to his second major award watch list before the 2008 season has even officially begun. Allen was added to the 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List this past week, which is given annually to college football's top down lineman (lines up within five yards of the ball).

Allen is a preseason all-Mountain West Conference selection in 2008, after leading SDSU in tackles a year ago with 119. He ranked first in the league in tackles per conference outing (10.6) and 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. Allen was recently tabbed one of the team's six captains for the second year in a row and enters 2008 with 268 career stops, 12.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions. He is also up for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's top linebacker, for the second consecutive season.

Allen is one of 113 players on the current Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List and is just the third Aztec so honored all-time, joining linebacker Kirk Morrison (2003, 2004) and offensive lineman Mike Kracalik (2004).

The 39th annual Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Wachovia, will be given out in Houston, Texas, on December 10 at the Hilton Americas Hotel.