White, Williams, Tracy finalists for major awards

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 20, 2018

BATON ROUGE  — The finalists for college football’s major awards were announced on Monday, and a trio of LSU stars made the cut.

Junior linebacker Devin White, redshirt sophomore cornerback Greedy Williams, and senior kicker Cole Tracy all have a chance to bring home some hardware when the College Football Awards are revealed on Dec. 6.

White is one of five finalists for the Dick Butkus Award which is awarded annually to the top linebacker in college football. White leads the Tigers with 98 tackles (which is fourth best in SEC), while also having 8 tackles for a loss, two sacks and eight quarterback hurries.

The other four Butkus finalists are Kentucky’s Josh Allen, Michigan’s Devin Bush, Clemson’s Tre Lamar and Alabama’s Dylan Moses.

Williams is one of three finalists for the Thorpe Award which is given to the country’s best defensive back. Despite teams avoiding throwing at him this season, the 2017 third-team All-American has two interceptions, 10 passes defended, 31 tackles and eight pass breakups.

Williams will look to join Morris Claiborne (2010) and Patrick Peterson (2011) as Tigers to win the award.

The other two Thorpe finalists are Georgia’s DaAndre Baker and Notre Dame’s Julian Love.

Tracy meanwhile is one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award which is given to the country’s best place kicker.

Tracy, a graduate transfer from Assumption College, is one of three finalist for the Lou Graza Award which is given to the nation’s best kicker. Tracy leads the SEC in field goals with 22 and is 22-for-25 on the season, which includes a game-winner against Auburn. 

The other Graza finalists are Syracuse’s Andre Szmyt and Wyoming’s Cooper Rothe.

The winner of those four awards, as well as several others, will be unveiled on the Home Depot College Football Awards Shows at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. 

The live show will be broadcast on ESPN at 6 p.m.

The trio of finalists join sophomore safety Grant Delpit as LSU players up for major awards.

Delpit is one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Award which is given annually to the nation’s best defensive player. 

Delpit, who was announced as a finalists last week, leads the SEC, and is second in the nation, with five interceptions and is also first in the SEC with 11 passes defended. Delpit is trying to become the first Tiger since Glenn Dorsey to win the award.