BATON ROUGE – Devin White, LSU’s junior linebacker, has won the 2018 Dick Butkus Award, presented annually to the nation’s top linebacker.
The 34th annual award was given to White on Tuesday afternoon in the team room in Tiger Stadium by Matt Butkus who is the son of the great Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, for whom the award is named.
This is LSU’s 25th national award, and the first time an LSU player has ever won the Butkus Award. A player from LSU has not won a national award since Odell Beckham Jr. won the Paul Hornung Award in 2013.
White ranked second in the SEC in total tackles and number 10 in tackles for loss. White recorded 100 tackles in back to back seasons, which is only the seventh time this has occurred in school history.
White was named first-team All-SEC by the AP and the league coaches and was the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Week twice in 2018.
White had a great statistical year despite a controversial suspension for the first half of the Alabama game due to a targeting penalty versus Ole Miss. White set an SEC record in 2017 by being named the league’s defensive player of the week four times.
In 2017, White also lead the league in tackles with 133.
Josh Allen (Kentucky), Devin Bush (Michigan), Tre Lamar (Clemson), and Dylan Moses (Alabama) were all beat out by White for the award.
Although expected to declare for the NFL draft in 2019, Devin White has committed to his team to play in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1st versus University of Central Florida.