Oct. 27, 2005
Notre Dame Linebacker Brandon Hoyte has been named a quarter-finalist for the 2nd annual Lott Trophy, presented by The IMPACT Foundation of The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Ca.
Hoyte is a 5-11, 231-pound senior linebacker who is the captain of the Notre Dame team, leads the Irish in tackles (eight per game) and has been named to the academic all-district team twice. He is an honor student with a 3.35 GPA.
Five of the quarter-finalists are on undefeated teams — Defensive End Darryl Tapp of Virginia Tech, Safety Darnell Bing of USC, Defensive End Quentin Moses of Georgia, Linebacker Spencer Havner of UCLA and Linebacker DeMeco Ryans of Alabama.
The other quarter-finalists are linebackers Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge of Iowa, A.J. Hawk of Ohio State, D’Qwell Jackson of Maryland and Moses Osemwegie of Vanderbilt. Safety Darrell Brooks of Arizona and Cornerback Antoine Huffman of Kentucky are also on the list as are Defensive End Elvis Dumervil of Louisville and Defensive Tackle Brennan Schmidt of Virginia.
In its second year, The Lott Trophy honors the college football Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. The student-athlete is judged on both his on-field performance and his off-field performance. The Lott Trophy is the first sports award based on personal character and is appropriately named after the legendary defensive back, Ronnie Lott. Last year’s winner was David Pollack, the All-American defensive end from Georgia.
Semi-finalists will be announced Nov. 11. Voting for the winner will be conducted by Ernst & Young with ballots being sent to college offensive and defensive coordinators, national media, The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation Board of Directors, a Board of Advisors made up of former NFL players and coaches along with the three finalists from last year – Pollack, Derrick Johnson of Texas and Jim Leonhard of Wisconsin.
The winner will be announced on Dec. 11th at a gala black-tie Awards Banquet at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach.