Ohio State football: 3 Buckeye LB’s appear on Butkus Award watch list

The 2020 Butkus Award watch list was announced on Monday, July 20 and the Ohio State football team had three players on the 51-man list including.

Tuf Borland, Baron Browning, and Pete Werner were all on the watch list and are the three Buckeye starters at linebacker. The annual award is given to the best linebacker in the country and is one of college football’s most prestigious awards.

Brian Bosworth was the first winner in 1985.

The Buckeyes are the only team in the nation to have three linebackers on the list, and all three are expected to help lead Ohio State to another Big Ten title and a potential College Football Playoff berth. Borland, Browning, and Werner have a combined 65 starts and have each played in 36+ games.

Borland, who has been named a team captain twice, has played in 42 games (34 starts) and has compiled an impressive 180 tackles and 15.5 tackles for loss. He also led the Buckeyes in total tackles a year ago. Browning has only started four games during his career but he’s been solid, piling up 81 tackles, 15 for a loss.

Werner currently has the second most career tackles on the team with 131 and he has started 27 of his 39 games. If the upcoming season goes as planned, he should hit the 50-game plateau alongside Borland. Ohio State’s two previous Butkus Award winners are Andy Katzenmoyer (1997) and James Laurinaitis (2007).

Other Big Ten players that appeared on the list are Derrick Barnes (Purdue), Paddy Fisher (Northwestern), Jake Hansen (Illinois), Cameron McGrone (Michigan), Micah Parsons (Penn State), and Jack Sanborn (Wisconsin).

A few other notable names include Dylan Moses (Alabama), Monty Rice (Georgia), and James Skalski (Clemson). Just two Big Ten linebackers have taken home the award since 2000, but Borland, Browning, and Werner will all look to add another.

Check out the full list here.