Each year, the Rotary Lombari Award is presented to the best lineman or linebacker in college football. According to an ESPN report, Stanford's Jonathan ‘Moose' Martin has been named one of four finalists on Wednesday.
The senior Martin played extremely well last year on an offensive line that allowed only six sacks of quarterback Andrew Luck all season, the second fewest total in the nation. He was named first-team All Pac-10 last year and has continued to play well as Stanford pursues a BCS national title.
Should Martin win, he will join a long list of talented and successful recipients. Prior winners include Julius Peppers (2001), Terrell Suggs (2002), A.J. Hawk (2005) and LaMarr Woodley (2006). In more recent years, Ndamukong Suh (2009) and Nick Fairley (2010) have claimed the honor.
The other three finalists for the award are Dont'a Hightower of Alabama, Luke Kuechly of Boston College and Courtney Upshaw of Alabama. The winner will be announced on Dec. 7th in Houston.