Georgia football: Roquan Smith wins the Butkus Award for Nations best linebacker
\’s and football linebacker Roquan Smith won his first award of the post season last night when the son of Dick Butkus presented him with the Butkus Award.
The University of Georgia know Roquan Smith is the best defensive player in college football. Georgia football fans know it. The Players and coaches know it. But we were curious if the media and organizations who present the awards knew it as well.
The Butkus Foundation stepped up Sunday night to show that they understand how great Smith is. During last night’s Georgia Football Gala, as Chuck Dowdle was talking about the awards Smith had a chance to win, Dick Butkus showed up on-screen to announce that his son was at the gala to present the Dick Butkus Award to Smith.
The Dick Butkus Award is presented annually to the nations best linebacker in high school, college and the NFL. The Butkus Foundation first gave out the award to college linebackers in 1985. It expended to include high school and NFL players in 2008.
It is, of course, named after College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick Butkus. He was a two-time consensus All-American for Illinois and an eight-time Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears. He is also a member of the NFL’s all-decade teams of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Smith is the first Georgia Bulldog to win the award. And he was the fourth Bulldog to be a finalist. Justin Houston (2010), Jarvis Jones (2011 and 2012) and Leonard Floyd (2015) were the others.
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Smith might, and probably should, bring more awards back to Athens. The Associated Press, Coaches Association and other media outlets should name Smith has a First-Team All-American. The other awards he’s a finalist for are the Bronco Nagurski Award and Chuck Bednarik Award. Both of those awards are presented to the best defensive player in the nation.
The Bronco Nagurski Award has been around since 1993 and is named for another Chicago Bear legend. He played for the University of Minnesota before the NFL. Nagurski is also a member of both college and pro hall of fame’s. He was a four-time All-Pro and a member of the NFL’s all-decade team of the 1930’s. Champ Bailey won the Nagurski Award as a Georgia Bulldog in 1998.
The Maxwell Football Club first presented the Chuck Bednarik Award in 1995. Former Georgia Bulldog David Pollack won the award as a senior in 2004.
Chuck Bednarik is also a member or both hall of fame’s. He spent his entire pro career with the Philadelphia Eagles after playing college football at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a two-time All-American and an eight-time Pro-Bowler.
With these awards and accolades, Roquan Smith could end up as Georgia’s most decorated defensive player besides David Pollack. Pollack won the Chuck Bednarik Award, Lott Trophy, Lombardi Award and the Ted Hendricks Award twice. He also earned three-straight consensus All-American honors.
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He is deserving of the awards. Smith leads the team in tackles with 113, quarterback pressures with 17 and sacks with 5.5. What sets Smith apart is how he’s able to make tackles all over the field. Smith can go from making a tackle on the side line on one play, to the backfield on the next.
And he’s more than just a tackler, he deflects passes, forces quarterbacks to make throws before they want to, changes the way offenses call plays. Perhaps no Bulldog since Pollack has affected opposing defenses as much as Smith.