April 7, 2009
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech junior defensive end Derrick Morgan was named to the watch list for the 2009 Lott Trophy on Tuesday.
Lott announced the 42 candidates for the award, which goes to players who have the biggest IMPACT (Integrity, Maturity, Peformance, Academics, Community and Tenacity) on their respective teams, on and off the field.
Morgan (6-4, 270) was honorable mention All-ACC last season after starting all 13 games and registering 51 total tackles. A Coatesville, Pa. native, Morgan had 9.5 tackles-for-loss, 7.0 sacks and 4.0 recoveries as a sophomore.
There are 14 repeat nominees, the most in the six years of the award, including seven quarter-finalists from a year ago and semi-finalist Eric Berry of Tennessee, an All-American and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. The other quarter-finalists nominated this year are Boston College Linebacker Mark Herzlich, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year; South Carolina’s Eric Norwood, who led the SEC in sacks, Florida’s Brandon Spikes, Missouri’s Sean Weatherspoon, Kentucky’s Jeremy Jarmon, BYU’s Jan Jorgensen and South Florida’s George Selvie.
Thirty-eight different schools are represented on the Watch List. Alabama, BYU, Georgia and UCLA each have two players nominated. Named after Hall of Famer Lott, The Lott Trophy is awarded to college football’s Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Now in its sixth year, The Lott Trophy is the only college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player.
Sponsored by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, the award is given to a player who exhibits the same characteristics Lott embodied during his distinguished career: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.
David Pollack of Georgia won the initial Lott Trophy in 2004. DeMeco Ryans of Alabama won the award in 2005, Daymeion Hughes of Cal was the recipient in 2006, Glenn Dorsey of LSU in 2007 and James Lau rinaitis of Ohio State last year. Georgia, Alabama, Cal, L SU and Ohio State have each received $25,000 for their general scholarship funds. In five years, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation has now donated nearly $650,000 to various charities, including the four universities.
In addition to Berry and Herzlich, Jerry Hughes (TCU, Mountain West) and Alex Carrington (Arkansas State, Sun Belt) were named the Defensive Players of the Year in their respective conferences.
Voters for the award include selected members of the national media, previous finalists, the Board of Directors of the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, The IMPACT Foundation Board of Advisors comprised of many retired NFL players and Legends Coaches, a distinguished group of former head college coaches.
The winner will be announced at a gala black-tie banquet at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Ca. on December 13th, 2009. For further information on The Lot t Trophy, please visit our websit e at Lotttrophy.com.
