University of Illinois football player
Michael Young has been named as a candidate for the 2000 Butkus Award, as announced by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando.
The Butkus Award, which honors the nation's top collegiate linebacker, announced its preliminary list of 70 candidates, Thursday morning. Young is making his first appearance on the list and is one of 10 players selected from the Big Ten Conference.
Young is beginning his fourth year as a starter for the Illini, and ranked sixth on the team in total tackles in 1999. He forced three sacks, four tackles for loss and one fumble while tallying 48 tackles last year. Young is the only returning starter for the linebacking corp this season and serves as one of the main leaders on the young Illinois defense.
The Butkus Award, sponsored by Cooper Tire, is regarded as one of the most elite individual honors in college football. Created in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando Inc., the Butkus Award is named for one of the greatest middle linebackers in football history, Dick Butkus of Illinois. Past winners include: LaVar Arrington (1999-Penn State), Andy Katzenmoyer (1997-Ohio State), Kevin Hardy (1995-Illinois), and Dana Howard (1994-Illinois).
The Butkus Award Watch List will be trimmed to 10 semi-finalists on Oct. 19 and the three finalists will be announced on a national teleconference on Nov. 9. The winner will be announced Friday, Dec. 8 at the Hard Rock Live in Universal Studios. The Butkus Award selection committee is made up of 28 of the nation's foremost media members.
| Keith Adams | Clemson | Dan Morgan | Miami |
| Brian Allen | Florida State | Ryan Nece | UCLA |
| Adam Archulta | Arizona State | Kautai Oleavo | Utah |
| Akin Ayodele | Purdue | Brent Passay | Utah State |
| Boss Bailey | Georgia | Jeremiah Pharms | Washington |
| Kendrell Bell | Georgia | Jerry Phillips | Tulane |
| Kevin Bentley | Northwestern | Kenny Philpott | Eastern Michigan |
| Eric Brackins | Michigan | Carlos Polk | Nebraska |
| Shannon Brazell | TCU | Tommy Polley | Florida State |
| Rocky Calmus | Oklahoma | Saleem Rasheed | Alabama |
| Quenton Carver | Arkansas | Darnell Robinson | Oregon State |
| Patrick Chukwurah | Wyoming | Jamonte Robinson | Missouri |
| Rick Crowell | Colorado State | Wayne Rogers | Houston |
| Derrell Daniels | Washington | Kevin Rollins | Toledo |
| Andra Davis | Florida | Cameron Saulsby | Northern Illinois |
| Anthony Denman | Notre Dame | Kamal Shakir | Memphis |
| Justin Ena | BYU | Tim Skipper | Fresno State |
| Treverance Faulk | LSU | Justin Smith | Indiana |
| Larry Foote | Michigan | Matt Smith | Oregon |
| Jason Glenn | Texas A&M | Brandon Spoon | North Carolina |
| Ryan Gonsales | Pittsburgh | Markus Steele | USC |
| Morlon Greenwood | Syracuse | Eddie Strong | Mississippi |
| Pernell Griffin | East Carolina | Taylor Suman | Temple |
| Sean Hoffman | Minnesota | Jashon Sykes | Colorado |
| Orlando Huff | Fresno State | LeVar Talley | Temple |
| Bradie James | LSU | Ben Taylor | Virginia Tech |
| Riall Johnson | Stanford | Robert Thomas | UCLA |
| Ben Leber | Kansas State | Byron Thweatt | Virginia |
| De'Andre Lewis | Texas | TJ Turner | Michigan State |
| Jason Loezel | Purdue | Lyle Weaver | Army |
| Vassay Marc | South Florida | Eric Westmoreland | Tennessee |
| Torrence Marshall | Oklahoma | Clayton White | NC State |
| Ben Mezera | Minnesota | Jamie Winborn | Vanderbilt |
| Marion Moore | Maryland | Max Yates | Marshall |
| Zeke Moreno | USC | Michael Young | Illinois |
Presented by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, Inc.
Sponsored by Cooper Tire
