Mizzou’s Bolton Named One of 16 Semifinalists for Butkus Award
11/30/2020 10:33:00 AM | Football
Junior All-SEC linebacker is third in SEC in tackles, also boasts a 3.7 GPA as a sport management major
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football standout linebacker Nick Bolton (Frisco, Texas) is one of 16 semifinalists for the 36th Annual Butkus Award ® honoring the nation's best linebacker at the collegiate level.
Selection is handled by a panel of 51 coaches, recruiters, scouts and journalists who vote separately and confidentially using a 3-2-1 process, with a write-in option offered. Selectors and selection criteria are posted at www.thebutkusaward.com.
Finalists in both divisions are expected to be announced Dec. 7, and winners will be announced on or before December 22. The winner will be announced in early 2021.
Bolton is undoubtedly the best defensive player Mizzou has at any position, and has been a workhorse all season for head coach Drinkwitz and defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, playing in all seven games. With a skillset and a track-record known nationally coming into the season, Bolton has not disappointed during his junior season when other players with similar credentials were opting out. A projected first-round draft pick, Bolton has done plenty to impress NFL scouts this season.
He is coming off of another game where he was just flying all over the field while filling the stat sheet. He had nine tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and a pass breakup while sitting much of the second half as Mizzou had put the game away, keying Mizzou's first SEC shutout since 2018. All nine of his tackles last Saturday were solo tackles.
He now ranks 16th nationally and seventh in Power 5 in tackles per game (10.86). That mark is third-best in the SEC as well. Bolton has 28 more tackles than the next-closest Mizzou defender with 76 on the year (53 solo), and leads the team in tackles for loss (7.0). He is fifth in the SEC in tackles for loss as well.
Bolton was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week following Mizzou's win over Kentucky, posting seven tackles in the dominant defensive performance, while the seven tackles may not seem like many by Bolton's lofty standards, it's important to note that he tallied those seven solo tackles among just 28 team tackles against Kentucky as the Wildcats ran just 36 offensive plays.
Since Oct. 12, 2019, after Mizzou senior captain LB Cale Garrett went down with a season-ending injury, Bolton has tallied 147 tackles over the last 14 games (10.5 per-game average). The last Tiger to average better than 10.5 tackles per game over a similar span was LB Kentrell Brothers during his All-American 2015 season when he led the nation with 152 tackles. Brothers averaged 12.7 tackles per game that year and 12.2 over the final 14 games of his career.
Bolton's 17 tackles at Tennessee are tied for the second-most at Mizzou since the turn of the century and are the most since a 20-takcle performance by LB Sean Weatherspoon against Buffalo on Sept. 20, 2008.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will return home next Saturday for a Dec. 5 tilt with SEC West Division rival Arkansas at 11 a.m. (CT) on SEC Network.
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