Carson Named To Butkus List

Aug. 23, 2001

Clemson, SC – Clemson senior Chad Carson is one of 69 linebackers named to the preseason list of candidates for the 2001 Dick Butkus Award. The list was announced on Thursday. The honor goes to the top linebacker in the nation and it will be presented Friday, December 7th in Orlando. Clemson linebacker Keith Adams, now with the Tennessee Titans of the NFL, was one of three finalists for the award last year.

Carson is one of six ACC players on the list. The others are LeVar Fisher of NC State, Bradley Jennings of Florida State, Kendyll Pope of Florida State, Aaron Thompson of Maryland and Ricardo Wimbush of Georgia Tech.

Carson ranked fourth in the nation in tackles per game in 2000 with an average of 13.3 per contest. He enters the 2001 season ranked 12th in Clemson history in career tackles with 311. The model of consistency has had double figures in tackles in 19 of the last 24 games and he has started each of the last 24 games.

Carson is also a model of consistency in the classroom. A Rhodes Scholar candidate, the native of Newnan, GA has a 3.94 career GPA in biological sciences. He was named permanent captain of the Clemson defense as a junior in 2000. He was named a first-team Academic All-American in 2000 after being selected as a second-team Academic All-American in 1999.

Carson is the third Clemson player to be named to an official preseason candidate list for a national position award. Kyle Young has already been named a preseason candidate for the Lombardi Award, while Woodrow Dantzler is on the preseason list for the Davey O’Brien Award. The Doak Walker Award preseason list should be released soon. Clemson tailback Travis Zachery is a candidate for that award.