Oklahoma LB Danny Stutsman Makes Yet Another Watch List

The Sooners' senior linebacker was named Thursday to the preseason watch list for the Lombardi Trophy.

Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

Chalk up another one for Danny Stutsman.

Oklahoma’s star linebacker on Thursday found his name on yet another of college football’s preseason award watch list — this time the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Stutsman, a 6-foot-2, 241-pound senior from Windermere, FL, has now been named to six preseason award watch lists. He's also landed on watch lists for the Dick Butkus Award (top linebacker), the Chuck Bednarik Award (top overall defender), the Walter Camp Award (top overall player) and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (top overall defender). In May, he was named to the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Trophy (character and performance).

The Lombardi Trophy — one of the original college football individual awards established in 1970 and prestigiously depicted by a solid block of granite — goes to the nation’s top lineman or linebacker. 

Oklahoma has had eight players nominated to 15 watch lists this preseason.

A total of 90 players were picked for the 2024 watch list, consisting of 18 defensive tackles, 17 defensive ends and 19 linebackers on defense, and 18 offensive tackles, 10 offensive guards, 6 offensive centers, and 2 tight ends on offense. 

The Southeastern Conference leads all leagues with 19 players nominated, followed by the Big Ten with 18 and Big 12 with 13.

led the Sooners in tackles and was among the national leaders each of the last two seasons (125 and 104, respectively). With 267 career stops in his 35 games (25 starts), he’s on the verge of cracking the school’s all-time top 10. He also has 28.0 TFLs with three career interceptions, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, eight passes defensed and seven quarterback sacks.

Stutsman received second-team All-America honors and first-team All-Big 12 last year. He also landed on the preseason All-SEC first team this year.

READ MORE WATCH LISTS

LB Danny Stutsman on Butkus
LB Danny Stutsman on Bednarik
S Billy Bowman on Bednarik
C Branson Hickman on Rimington
WR Nic Anderson on Biletnikoff
RB Gavin Sawchuk on Walker
P Luke Elzinga on Guy
LB Danny Stutsman on Camp
RB Gavin Sawchuk on Wuerffel
C Branson Hickman on Outland
LB Danny Stutsman on Nagurski
S Billy Bowman on Nagurski
DS Ben Anderson on Mannelly
S Billy Bowman on Thorpe
QB Jackson Arnold on Maxwell
LB Danny Stutsman on Lott

After leading the team with a career-high 992 snaps in 2022, Stutsman played 722 snaps last year — his missed 1 1/2 games with an ankle injury — and his overall defensive grade of 71.8 from PFF ranked 29th among Power 5 linebackers nationally.

Stutsman’s value to the team was never more evident than when he was gone. After the injury at Kansas, the Sooners lost back-to-back games at KU and at Oklahoma State and finished the regular season with a 10-2 record.

After declining the NFL Draft process — his dad Steve Stutsman told Sooners On SI that his underclassman draft grade was “more than favorable” — Stutsman decided to return to Oklahoma for his senior season under coach Brent Venables and new defensive coordinator Zac Alley. 

Stutsman said in July his intent was to be better than ever in 2024, and he spent the offseason working on a handful of areas that he thinks will improve his game.

“Obviously with Coach V and me coming back, we had a plan going into it, what I needed to improve upon. Obviously, block destruction is a huge one. Improving in man-zone coverage is something I’ve worked on a ton. Really, just leadership overall. Just coming in every day as the same person, helping the other guys to improve and just be one percent better.”