Two More Watch Lists For Penn State

Two of  Penn State’s star seniors have both been named to the watch list for the prestigious award given to each positions most outstanding player in the nation.

Glenn Carson has been named to the prestigious Butkus Award Watch List which is given to the top linebacker in the nation. John Urschel was named to his second individual award watch list this preseason as he was added to the

Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List, the Rotary Lombardi is given to the top lineman or linebacker.

Urschel is coming off a great season in which he was named to the 2012 first-team All-Big Ten and is also on the watch list for the Outland Trophy which is given to the nation’s top interior lineman. Penn State so far this pre-season has seven individual players on watch lists for awards this season.

• Deion Barnes (DE) – Bednarik Award: Best overall DE
• Deion Barnes (DE)- Nagurski Award: Top defensive player in Nation
• Glenn Carson (LB)- Butkus Award: Best overall LB
• Kyle Carter (TE)- Mackey Award: Best overall TE
• Zack Zwinak (RB)- Maxwell Award: Top overall player in Nation
• DaQuan Jones (DT)- Outland Award: Top interior lineman
• John Urschel (G) – Outland Award: Top interior lineman
• John Urschel (G)- Rotary Lombardi: Top lineman or linebacker

Glenn Carson:

Is the most experienced player on the defensive side of the ball coming into this season. Over the last two seasons he has started all but one game which registers 24 starts over his Penn State career which is the most on the team. This will be his third season that the team will be counting on Carson as a big time contributor for the Nittany Lions defense that has six starters returning.

Carson enters the 2013 season as the most experienced veteran on a defensive unit that returns six starters and several experienced reserves. The middle linebacker has started all but one game the past two seasons and his 24 starts are the most on the team. Carson will begin his third year as a significant contributor for a defensive corps that ranked second in the Big Ten and 16th nationally in scoring defense in 2012.

Carson has all the characteristics of a Penn State “Linebacker U” star linebacker. He is a tough, hard hitting, smart and instinctive player that will be a candidate for All-Big Ten honors and possibly All-American honors. In 2012, he registered 85 tackles which made him one of the top tacklers in the Big Ten conference last season. He has 171 career tackles and another 80 would move him into the Top 15 on Penn State tackles list which includes the likes and leaders of  Dan Connor (413) and Paul Poslusny (372). Former Penn State All-Americans LaVar Arrington(1999) and Paul Poslusny(2005) are also former Butkus Award winners.

John Urschel: 

Urschel is one of six Big Ten offensive lineman who are on the watch list for the Rotary Lombardi Award. To earn a place on the watch list players must earn All-American honors and be named to their conferences all-conference team or by receiving pre-season honors that year.

Urschel was an College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American honors last season. Urschel will be the big piece on the offensive line this upcoming season with his big 6’3, 307-pound frame. He helped running back Zach Zwinak reach 1,000 yards last season as well as helping Matt McGloin reach the 3,000 yard mark in passing yards last season.

One of the best college football scholar-athletes Urschel has a 4.o GPA at Penn State and has earned his bachelor’s and master degrees in mathematics over the past four year. He will be working on his second master’s degree in math education this upcoming season and one day hopes to get his doctorate in math education.

The last Penn State player to win the Lombardi Award was defensive tackle Bruce Clark who won the award in 1979.

Urschel is one of 16 returning starters and 38 returning letterwinners this season as Bill O’Brien and the Nittany Lions begin the 127th season starting on August 31st at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J against Syracuse.

 

Dylan Callaghan-Croley is a featured writer on thegreenpheed.com , Phielderschoice.com and totalsportslive.com . He will be going into his junior year of high school during the 2013-2014 school year. He hopes to end up in a field involving sports after his graduates college. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dylancc_TGP

[Feature Photo: Evan Habeeb/US PRESSWIRE] [Carson Photo: 247sports] [Urschel Photo: Joe Hermitt/Patriot News]

 

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