Nyles Morgan named to Butkus Award list

By Bobby Norell | Jul 12, 2016

Nov 8, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Nyles Morgan (5) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona State defeated Notre Dame 55-31. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Notre Dame middle linebacker Nyles Morgan named to the Butkus Award watch list on Tuesday.

Even though they mean relatively nothing, the preseason accolades keep coming in for the Irish. Last week DeShone Kizer, Malik Zaire, Isaac Rochell, Justin Yoon, Mike McGlinchey, Jarron Jones and Alize Jones were all named to their respective award watch list. Now today middle linebacker Nyles Morgan was named to the Butkus Award watch list.

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This is the second straight season Notre Dame has had someone named to the Butkus Award watch list. Last season it was Jaylon Smith and he ended up winning the award. Morgan hopes to repeat Smith’s success.

There has always been a ton of hype around Morgan. Coming out of high school Morgan was a four-star prospect and the fifth best linebacker in the class. We’ll finally see if he can live up to that hype in 2016, as it will be Morgan’s first year as a starter.

Joe Schmidt manned the middle of the Irish defense for the past two seasons and while his hard work and determination was admirable, he quite frankly wasn’t the most athletic or skilled player. I know many Irish fans, including myself, were clamoring for Brian Kelly to give Morgan a shot last season when Schmidt struggled. The expectations are high, but if Morgan lives up to them he should be an overall upgrade over Schmidt.

Morgan did start the last four games of the 2014 season when Schmidt went down with a broken ankle. In those four games Morgan tallied 35 tackles.

Next: Is DeShone Kizer Overlooked?

Aside from Morgan being named to the list Notre Dame also had three of it’s 2017 commits named to the high school Butkus Award watch list. David Adams, Pete Werner and Drew White were all named to the list.

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