University of Houston Athletics
McGraw Named to Lombardi Award Watch List
4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 29, 2010
Houston, Texas - The preliminary watch list for the 2010 Rotary Lombardi Award was released today, and two Conference USA players are among the standouts named to the list. Houston junior linebacker Marcus McGraw and UCF senior defensive end Bruce Miller represent Conference USA on the preseason list.
McGraw has made 27 consecutive starts and has registered 259 tackles in his first two seasons at UH. Last season, he led Conference USA and ranked fifth in the nation with 156 tackles (79 solo). His 23 tackles in last year's Armed Forces Bowl was the second-highest single-game total in school history.
Miller returns after being named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. He ranked fifth in the nation in sacks last season with 14 and tops all returning FBS players with 27 sacks and 44 tackles for loss in his career. Miller led the UCF defense to the top ranking in C-USA for a second consecutive season in 2009.
Eligibility for the Rotary Lombardi Award is limited to down linemen, end-to-end, either on offense or defense, who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball, or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage. The candidates earned a place on the preliminary watch list by earning All-American honors or by being named to their respective all-conference first team as selected by the conference's head coaches. The Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List will be updated prior to the start of the 2010 season in order to identify those players who have been selected as pre-season honors candidates.
While the Watch List highlights those players who have already received national recognition, any Division I player who meets the requirements is eligible for consideration from the Rotary Lombardi Selection Committee. This committee is comprised of more than 500 members, including all past winners and finalists, all FBS head coaches and a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.
The Rotary Lombardi Watch List, intended as a reference tool for the Selection Committee, will be periodically updated and revised through the conclusion of the voting to determine the 12 Semifinalists for 2010.
Last year's Rotary Lombardi Award winner, Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska) was picked up by the Detroit Lions and finalist Gerald McCoy (Oklahoma) by Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the First Round of the NFL Draft.
The 41st Rotary Lombardi Award will be held on December 7- 8, 2010 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. For more information on the two-day schedule of events, please visit www.rotarylombardiaward.org.
