Luke Kuechly Awards and Recognition Summary, 2011

There were not many good things about which to speak with regards to Boston College football in 2011, but one of the few was Luke Kuechly, junior linebacker. After a season in which he made over 190 tackles and set both the ACC and Boston College tackle records, he has seen the accolades pile up. To buoy the spirits of Eagles fans, who could use some buoying after the season we’ve had, this is a brief summary of Kuechly’s post-season recognition.

• Unanimous All-ACC First Team selection; only unanimous selection on defense

• ACC Defensive Player of the Year; got 2/3 of the vote

• Butkus Award, honoring the nation’s best linebacker; got 18 first-place votes while the next-highest player got five

• Rotary Lombardi Award, honoring the nation’s best collegiate lineman; first recipient of the award in school history

• Walter Camp First-Team All-American; became first Eagle to receive the honor twice

• Football Writers’ Association of America All-American; one of just two ACC players

• Lott Impact Trophy, honoring the top defensive impact player of the year; awarded on Sunday night

• Nominated for the Nagurski Award, being presented tonight

Congratulations to Luke Kuechly on having a great and memorable season. No matter what anybody says about the team’s season or the conference itself, Kuechly is deserving. In fact, I would say he deserved even more recognition: I’m surprised he wasn’t a finalist for the Bednarik Award and was left off the AFCA All-America team, but when you’ve had an already-impressive haul like Kuechly, it’s not as big of a deal.

Were he to return next year, and I’m still not sold on that happening, he could add even more recognition to his resume, though 2012 is a long way away.