Noah Sewell Named Semifinalist for Dick Butkus Award

Sewell is one of 16 semifinalists up for the award honoring the top linebacker in college football.

Linebacker Noah Sewell made history on Monday morning, becoming the first ever Oregon Duck to be a semifinalist for the prestigious Dick Butkus Award. The Butkus Award, given to the best college linebacker every year since 1985, narrowed its list down to 16 candidates today before revealing the five finalists on Nov. 22 and the winner on Dec. 7.

Sewell being amongst the most elite defensive players in the nation is no surprise. He’s had a knack for the spotlight ever since being recruited to the Ducks as a 5-star recruit and the Utah Valley Football Player of the Year in 2019. 

Sewell was a part of Oregon's 2020 recruiting class that finished atop the Pac-12 alongside fellow 5-stars Justin Flowe and Dontae Manning, and he immediately made an impact. The middle linebacker played in all of Oregon’s seven games in the shortened COVID season last year. His 45 total tackles, 24 solo tackles, and two sacks last fall were good enough to earn him the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.

Sewell kept that same energy and has used it to boost himself into a fantastic 2021 campaign. On just the third defensive series of the year, Sewell sniffed out a run play against Fresno State and threw Bulldogs' running back Ronnie Rivers to the ground to force a fumble. Since the opening game, Sewell has recorded at least six tackles in every outing and had a career-high 14 tackles in a 41-19 thrashing of the Arizona Wildcats in September.

Sewell's play just keeps getting better and it's all come when the Ducks' defense needed a leader to step up in the face of major injuries. Starting safety Bennett Williams was ruled out for the season when it looked like he was ready to become another star in the secondary next to fellow safety Verone McKinley III. Fellow freshman linebacker Flowe also suffered a significant injury that will reportedly sideline him for the rest of the regular season.

And of course there is Kayvon Thibodeaux. The third-year beast of an edge rusher entered his season as a Heisman hopeful, but has had a bit of a rollercoaster of a season thus far. After a huge hit for a sack and a forced fumble in week one, he was sidelined with an ankle sprain for Oregon’s huge clash against Ohio State in Columbus. Add to that a targeting call in the overtime loss to Stanford, and you get only two full games of Thibodeaux for the Ducks so far.

Despite the Ducks' injuries on defense, Sewell has been Oregon’s constant. His 69 tackles are good enough for fourth-most in the Pac-12, and he’s earned PAC-12 Defensive Freshman of the Week twice in his second season.

Sewell is one of four Pac-12 linebackers to be named semifinalists for the award, along with Utah's Devin Lloyd, Arizona State's Darien Butler, and Colorado's Nate Landman. Lloyd was a finalist for the award in the 2020 season and is having another strong season for the Utes with 71 total tackles.

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