Maurice Crum Jr. was named to the Lott Trophy Watch List for the second straight year.

Maurice Crum Jr. Named To Lott Trophy Watch List again

April 4, 2008

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Notre Dame linebacker Maurice Crum Jr. is among 42 of the top defensive players in the nation to be named to the 2008 Lott Trophy Watch List.

Named after Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, The Lott Trophy is awarded to college football’s Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Now in its fifth year, The Lott Trophy is the first college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player.

Sponsored by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, the award is given to a player who exhibits the same characteristics Lott embodied during his distinguished career: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.

Crum, a 6-0, 235-pound senior from Riverview, Florida, ranked third on the Irish with 84 tackles a year ago. He enters the 2008 season with 241 career tackles and needs 54 stops to enter Notre Dame’s top-ten list for career tackles. Crum has totaled 17.5 tackles for loss and five sacks in his Irish career and is on pace to become the ninth Notre Dame defender to reach 300 career tackles.

Crum, who was named to the 2007 watch list, is one of seven repeat nominees. The other players nominated for a second straight year are Crum, Jonathan Casillas of Wisconsin, Brian Cushing of USC, Zack Follett of Cal, Nic Harris of Oklahoma and Darryl Richard of Georgia Tech.

David Pollack of Georgia won the initial Lott Trophy in 2004. DeMeco Ryans of Alabama won the award in 2005, Daymeion Hughes of Cal was the recipient in 2006 and LSU’s Glenn Dorsey claimed the honor last year. Georgia, Alabama, Cal and LSU each received $25,000 for their general scholarship funds. In four years, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation has donated over $450,000 to various charities, including the three universities.

Voters for the award include selected members of the national media, previous finalists, the Board of Directors of the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation, The IMPACT Foundation Board of Advisers comprised of many retired NFL players and Master Coaches, a distinguished group of former head college coaches.

The winner will be announced at a gala black-tie banquet at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Ca. on December 14th, 2008.

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