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DaShaun White Named to Butkus Award Watch List

After breakout 2019 season, the OU junior is officially a candidate for college football's top linebacker award

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma linebacker DaShaun White, a junior from North Richland Hills, Texas, landed on the Dick Butkus Award watch list on Monday, joining five teammates so far who’ve made preseason watch lists.

The Butkus Award goes to college football’s top linebacker. There are 51 linebackers on the watch list — Dick Butkus’ jersey number with the Chicago Bears.

It’s the seventh college football award so far to release a preseason watch lists, and there’s a Sooner on six: White, tight end Austin Stogner (John Mackey), defensive end Ronnie Perkins (Chuck Bendarik), receiver Charleston Rambo (Fred Biletnikoff), running back Kennedy Brooks (Doak Walker) and linebacker Caleb Kelly (Ronnie Lott).

The Butkus has gone to an Oklahoma player four times: Brian Bosworth won the first two (1985-86), Rocky Calmus won in 2001, and Teddy Lehman won in 2003.

White became a starter last year as a sophomore, collecting 52 total tackles.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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