July 13, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior linebacker Miles Burris has been named to his second major award watch list, recently being tabbed among 125 individuals named to the 2011 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List.
Burris is coming off a breakout 2010 year, in which he led SDSU to a 9-4 season record, capped by the school's first bowl game victory since 1969. The Granite Bay, Calif., native recorded team-leading totals in tackles (80), tackles for a loss (20) and sacks (9.5). He was also the Mountain West's sack and tackles-for-a-loss leader and was named to the all-MWC first team.
Burris is the fourth Aztec to be named to the preseason Lombardi Watch list, joining fellow linebackers Russell Allen (2008) and Kirk Morrison (2003, 2004) as well as offensive lineman Mike Kracalik (2004).
The annual Rotary Lombardi Award honors the top lineman in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Eligibility for the 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 official watch list by earning All-American honors last season, by being named to their respective all-conference first team last season as selected by the conference's head coaches, by being projected to be an All-American or first team all-conference player for the coming season, or by nomination approved by the Rotary Lombardi nominations committee.
The Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List will be periodically updated and revised up to the first round of voting to determine the 12 semifinalists for 2010. The 42nd Rotary Lombardi Award will be held on December 6-7, 2011 at Reliant Center in Houston, Texas.