COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football star linebacker Nick Bolton (Frisco, Texas) was announced as one of five finalists for the 36th Annual Butkus Award®, given annually to college football’s top linebacker. Bolton is the first Mizzou player to be a finalist for one of college football’s major annual awards since 2018 when Albert Okwuegbunam was a finalist for the Mackey Award and Drew Lock was a finalist for the Unitas Golden Arm and Lowes Senior CLASS Awards. Bolton is the first Mizzou defender since Shane Ray in 2014 to be a finalist for a major college football award. Ray was a finalist for the Hendricks Award that season.
Bolton now ranks 22nd nationally and 12th in Power 5 in tackles per game (10.00). That mark is fourth-best in the SEC as well. Keep in mind he ranks that highly despite not playing the second half in either the Vanderbilt or Arkansas game. Bolton has 19 more tackles than the next-closest Mizzou defender with 88 on the year (66 solo), and leads the team in tackles for loss (7.0). He is fifth in the SEC in tackles for loss as well.
Bolton was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week following Mizzou’s win over Kentucky, posting seven tackles in the dominant defensive performance. While the seven tackles may not seem like many by Bolton’s lofty standards, it’s important to note that he tallied those seven solo tackles among just 28 team tackles against Kentucky as the Wildcats ran just 36 offensive plays. He was National Defensive Player of the Week following Mizzou’s win over LSU on Oct. 10.
Since Oct. 12, 2019, after Mizzou senior captain LB Cale Garrett went down with a season-ending injury, Bolton has tallied 159 tackles over the last 16 games (9.9 per-game average). The last Tiger to average better than 9.9 tackles per game over a similar span was LB Kentrell Brothers during his All-American 2015 season when he led the nation with 152 tackles. Brothers averaged 12.7 tackles per game that year and 11.8 over the final 16 games of his career.
Collegiate winners will be announced on or before December 22. Selection is handled by a panel of 51 coaches, recruiters, scouts and journalists who vote separately and confidentially using a 3-2-1 weighted process, with a write-in option offered. Selectors and selection criteria are posted at www.thebutkusaward.com.
ABOUT THE BUTKUS AWARD
The Butkus Award® is presented by the Butkus Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization which advances health and wellness through special initiatives. This includes the I Play Clean® program encouraging athletes to play using their natural ability, and the Butkus Takes Heart™ program encouraging preventive heart scans and screening among adults. The Butkus Award a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored more than 800 since 1935.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will play its regular season finale at Mississippi State Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CT) on SEC Network (alternate).
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