University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Boley Named Lott Trophy Semifinalist
11/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Boley Named Lott Trophy Semifinalist
Michael Boley is a semifinalist for the inaugural Lott Trophy and is also a semifinalist for the Butkus Award and Bednarik Award. |
HATTIESBURG, Miss.? Southern Miss senior linebacker Michael Boley, was named one of seven semifinalists for the inaugural Lott Trophy award, presented by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation of Newport Beach, Calif.
Named after former NFL Hall of Fame star, Ronnie Lott, The Lott Trophy will be the first college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player.
The Lott Trophy will go to the Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year, a player who has had the biggest impact on his team both on and off the field. IMPACT stands for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity, all characteristics exhibited by Lott during his illustrious playing career.
Three finalists will be announced Nov. 29 and the three athletes will fly to
National media, college coaches, former collegiate standouts and coaches will be among the 500 voters for the award.
An honorary Lott Trophy was presented to Pat Tillman Sr. Oct. 16 during the
Boley has enjoyed a highly successful senior season, one that has brought numerous accolades. He was a consensus preseason All-American, preseason Conference USA Player of the Year and named to the Bronko Nagurski Watch List, the Lombardi Award Watch List and was recently named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given annually to the nation?s top linebacker, and a semi-finalist for Bednarik Award. Boley was tabbed midseason All-American and Conference USA Midseason Player of the Year by collegefootballnews.com.
He has proved he is worthy of the accolades on the field this season. He currently has 82 total tackles, including 45 solos and 37 assists. He has 10 tackles for loss, four sacks, one interception and three forced fumbles on the campaign.
His on-field performance has garnered him Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week three times (9/11, 10/3, and 10/23). Thanks to a 20 tackle, two forced fumble and a pass breakup performance against
Semi-finalists for the first Lott Trophy:
Michael Boley, Sr. LB, Southern Miss
David Pollack, Sr. DE,
Dan Cody, Sr., DE,
Shaun Cody, Sr., DT, USC
Derrick Johnson, Sr., LB,
Jim Leonhard, Sr., S,
Marcus Spears, Sr., DE, LSU
