Ohio State's Tommy Eichenberg Named Butkus Award Semifinalist

Ohio State linebacker Tommy Eichenberg was named on Tuesday afternoon as one of 15 semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which is presented annually to the top linebacker at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football.

Eichenberg, a redshirt junior from Cleveland St. Ignatius, leads the Buckeyes this season with 72 tackles and is second on the team with seven tackles for loss. He’s also added 2.5 sacks and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown in the 54-10 win over Iowa.

This marks the second honor of the day for Eichenberg, who was also named a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award, which is given to best defensive player in the country. He’s coming off a season-best 15-tackle performance in Saturday’s 44-31 win at Penn State.

More News From Sports Illustrated: College Football Scoreboard | SI's Top 10: Tennessee Keeps Making Its Case | Players Brawl In Tunnel Following Michigan's Win Over Michigan State | USC's Lincoln Riley Fumes After Pac-12 Officiating Disaster

Other semifinalists include Alabama’s Henry To’oTo’o, Arkansas’ Drew Sanders, Auburn’s Owen Pappoe, Cincinnati’s Ivan Pace Jr., Clemson’s Trenton Simpson, Georgia’s Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Iowa’s Jack Campbell, Kentucky’s DeAndre Square, Oregon’s Noah Sewell, Pittsburgh’s SirVocea Dennis, Syracuse’s Mikel Jones, Texas’ DeMarvion Overshown, UConn’s Jackson Mitchell and Washington State’s Dayian Henley.

Finalists for the award, which is named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus, will be announced on Nov. 21. Eichenberg is looking to become the third Buckeye to win, joining former linebackers Andy Katzenmoyer (1997) and James Laurinaitis (2007).

-----

Get your Ohio State football tickets from SI Tickets. Also, be sure to check out our new message boards, Buckeye Forums. We'd love to have you part of the conversation during the season.

-----

You may also like:

College Football Playoff Rankings Don’t Matter To Ohio State Right Now

“Huge Level Of Confidence” Jaxon Smith-Njigba Will Return This Season

Ohio State's Ryan Day, Jim Knowles, Brian Hartline Preview Northwestern

2023 Georgia DT Kayden McDonald Commits To Ohio State

How McDonald's Commitment Impacts Ohio State’s 2023 Recruiting Class

Ohio State's J.T. Tuimoloau Named Big Ten Defensive Player Of The Week

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Andrew Lind on Twitter: @AndrewMLind
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNow_FN
Follow BuckeyesNow on Instagram: @BuckeyesNow_FN

Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!