Penn State Football: Micah Parsons Named Finalist For 2019 Butkus Award

Penn State football star Micah Parsons has been named one of six finalists for the 2019 Butkus Award, which is annually awarded to college football’s top linebacker.

Parsons is a finalist for the prestigious award alongside Zach Baun (Wisconsin), Jordyn Brooks (Texas Tech), Isaiah Simmons (Clemson), Evan Weaver (California), and Logan Wilson (Wyoming).

He now becomes the sixth Penn State linebacker to be named as a Butkus Award finalist, joining Lavar Arrington, Paul Posluszny (who was a finalist twice, Shane Conlan, Andre Collins, Brandon Short, and Dan Connor. 

Parsons has been a true representation of why Penn State is known as Linebacker U, as he’s on pace to lead the team in tackles for the second year in a row. Through 11 games, Parsons has tallied 85 total tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and three pass deflections. 

Since committing to Penn State in 2017, Parsons has definitely delivered on the hype he generated as a recruit. He was named a freshman All-American despite only registering one official start, and the sophomore followed that up with an even better 2019 season as a full-time starter.

With one regular season game left against Rutgers, Parsons has an opportunity to pad his stats even more and separate himself from the other finalists. If he wins the Butkus Award, he’ll become only the third linebacker in Penn State history to do so, joining Arrington (1999) and Posluszny (2005).