/EINPresswire.com/ -- CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 11/23/15 -- Finalists for the 31st annual Butkus Award® honoring the nation's best collegiate and high school linebackers were announced today by the Butkus Foundation.

Butkus Award 2015 Collegiate Finalists
--------------------------------------
Leonard Floyd                         University of Georgia
Deion Jones                           Louisiana State University
Raekwon McMillan                      Ohio State University
Reggie Ragland                        University of Alabama
Jaylon Smith                          University of Notre Dame

Smith (2012) and McMillan (2013) both won the high school Butkus Award, Smith is a returning finalist, and Ragland was a semifinalist last year.

Butkus Award 2015 High School
Finalists
---------------------------------
Ben Davis                        Gordo High School, Ala.
Mique Juarez                     North High School, Torrance, Calif.
Caleb Kelly                      Clovis West High School, Fresno, Calif.
Maxs Tupai                       Murray High School, Salt Lake City, Utah
Lyndell Wilson                   Carver Senior High School, Montgomery, Ala.

Winners will be named by December 8 by the independent panel of 51 recruiters, scouts, coaches and journalists. A professional Butkus Award honoree will be named in early 2016. Selectors and selection criteria are posted at www.thebutkusaward.com

The 2014 Butkus Award winners:

• Professional: Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers
• Collegiate: Eric Kendricks, UCLA (now Minnesota Vikings)
• High School: Malik Jefferson, Poteet, Mesquite, Tex. (now Texas)

The Butkus Award was expanded in 2008 to honor linebackers at three levels while helping spread the word about Butkus' I Play Clean™ initiative which encourages teens to eat well, train hard, and play with attitude instead of resorting to steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. More information is available at www.iplayclean.org and on facebook at i.play.clean.

The Butkus Award, www.thebutkusaward.com and on Facebook at 51.butkus, is presented by the Butkus Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization. The Butkus Award is part of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which includes the 22 most prestigious awards in college football with 700 years of selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org for more information.

Contact: Ron Arp
Email Contact
360.601.2991

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.