The individual accolades continue to pile up for Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly.
Tonight, Kuechly was named the 2011 Rotary Lombardi Award winner as the nation's top collegiate lineman. Kuechly beat out Alabama linebackers Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower and Stanford offensive tackle Jonathan Martin for the award.
Top collegiate lineman, you say?
Turns out the Rotary Lombardi, presented annually since 1970, has something of a unique eligibility criteria. It is awarded to the nation's best college football lineman (either on offense or defense) or linebacker. A player should be a down lineman on either side of the ball or a linebacker who lines up no farther than five yards deep from the ball.
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Kuechly is the first recipient from Boston College to win the award, and the first ACC player since North Carolina's Julius Peppers won the award in 2001.
OK, so now when Kuechly decides to finally hang them up, BC can retire his jersey number, yes?