Butkus Has His Eye On Derrell Smith & Doug Hogue

It's technically not Dick Butkus himself who is watching certain college linebackers to see if they are good enough to win the award named after him, but let's just pretend he is.  It's much cooler that way.

Other than for punting, you don't see Syracuse players show up on watch lists too often these days.  So to have two guys on the Butkus Award watch list is not only a nice step for the program but also a sign of just how good that unit's going to be.

Syracuse (2 LBs) and UConn (3 LBs) are the only Big East schools with names on the list.  Check out the full rundown here.