Lineback Nominated For Rudy Awards
December 01, 2010 | Football
Dec. 1, 2010
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (The Rudy Foundation) - East Carolina University's Dustin Lineback was nominated for the Fourth Annual College Football Rudy AwardsTM, it was announced Wednesday by The Rudy Foundation.
Lineback, a senior linebacker, walked on to the East Carolina football team in 2007 after transferring from Brevard (N.C.) College. During his first season at ECU, he did not experience game action, but was a valuable member of the scout team.
Following the departure of head coach Skip Holtz and all three starting linebackers from the 2009 team, Lineback has stepped into a much bigger role as a senior. At the end of the 2010 spring semester, new head coach Ruffin McNeill promoted Lineback to full-scholarship status.
Lineback's rapid development and tireless work ethic have made him one of the best walk-on stories in recent East Carolina program history. This season, with a new staff and 13 defensive players making their first-career starts, his leadership has been invaluable. He has been selected as a defensive or special teams captain in five of the 12 weeks of the season. Lineback has also made a career-high and team-leading 111 tackles. Most recently, he tied his personal best with 14 stops against SMU, making 11 in the opening half.
A record 55 of the 120 Division I football programs submitted a nomination for this season's College Football Rudy AwardsTM, and every Division I conference was represented for the Award, which honors student-athletes who demonstrate exemplary character, courage, contribution and commitment as members of their collegiate football teams. These same traits were immortalized in the blockbuster film "Rudy" in 27 seconds and against all odds on a gridiron in South Bend, Indiana, enabling Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger to carve his name into college football lore.
Three Rudy AwardsTM finalists will be chosen by the Selection Committee, as well as through fan voting, and honored at the Priority Payment Systems Awards Ceremony to be held in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Convention on January 11, 2011, at the Hilton Anatole, in Dallas, Texas. Rudy Ruettiger will personally present the awards.
Each finalist will be presented with a classic finalist award and have an academic scholarship made in his name to the general scholarship fund of his college or university, as well as have travel expenses paid to the event. An overall winner will be chosen and presented with the top scholarship and bronze Rudy Award trophy.
Fans can review nominations and place their votes for the most deserving player from December 1-13.
"We established this award as a special way to honor and recognize college football players for the size of their hearts instead of the enormity of their stats," said Rudy Ruettiger. "I am so excited to see how this award has grown into one of the top collegiate honors for kids who weren't born with tremendous athletic talent, perhaps, but have overcome the odds and persevered because of their heart. The fact that we again had more than 40 percent of the Division I football programs submitting nominations, with every conference represented, speaks volumes about the importance of character, courage, contribution and commitment in sports and in our society."
The 2010 Award Selection Committee includes football coaches Barry Alvarez, David Bailiff, Gary Barnett, Fisher DeBerry, Dennis Franchione, June Jones, Chuck Knox, Gary Patterson, Buddy Pough, Jackie Sherrill and Dick Tomey, as well as former Washington Redskins Quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams. Prominent businessman Peter Murphy, Jr., again serves as Chairman. Fan votes for the Rudy AwardsTM also will contribute to the Selection Process. Finalists will be announced December 14.
Past Rudy Award Winners
Terry Clayton, then a senior linebacker at the University of Kentucky, who, despite losing his hearing at the age of five, persevered as a walk-on for the Kentucky football team for five seasons and twice was named to the Southeast Conference Academic Honor Roll was the recipient of the 2007 Inaugural College Football Rudy Award.
Drew Combs, then a senior kickoff specialist for Texas Christian University, who, despite being born with a left arm that ends at his elbow, made the TCU football team as a walk on and became a key weapon on special teams, was the recipient of the 2008 College Football Rudy Award.
LeVon Morefield, then a junior running back at the University of Akron, overcame several obstacles early in life just to reach college, including being born addicted to crack cocaine, being arrested for selling drugs and nearly dropping out of high school. While holding down three jobs, he decided to walk on to the Akron football team, eventually earning a scholarship. He was the recipient of the 2009 College Football Rudy Award.
