Boston College's Mark Herzlich | 5th in Butkus Award Voting

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Wake Forest's Aaron Curry has won the 2008 Butkus Award, given annually to the nations top linebacker. USC's Rey Maualuga finished 2nd, Ohio State's James Laurinaitus 3rd, USC's Brian Cushing 4th, and Mark Herzlich finished 5th.

Here are the season statistics from each of the 4 players that finished ahead of Mark Herzlich

Aaron Curry 101 tackles 15 TFL 2.5 sacks 3 FR 1 FF 1 INT

Rey Maualuga 73 tackles 2.5 TFL 0 sacks 0 FR 0 FF 2 INT (1 TD)

James Laurinaitus 121 tackles 5.5 TFL 4 sacks 0 FR 1 FF 2 INT

Brian Cushing 66 tackles 10 TFL 2.5 sacks 0 FR 1 FF 1 INT

Mark Herzlich 105 tackles 11 TFL 3 sacks 2 FR 2 FF 6 INT (2 TD)

This is no knock on Aaron Curry, or any of the other top 4 candidates. They are all great players respectively and will surely be high selections come April in the NFL Draft. But c'mon voters, the numbers here don't lie. Herzlich clearly had the best overall stats of any linebacker in the nation. He made plays all over the field, rushing the passer and dropping back into coverage. I think it is absurd that Mark did not win, let alone come in the top three. What kind of criteria is used to determine the winner because it surely is not based on performance. This leads me to believe the voting is based more hype than anything else. The top 4 finishers all received high pre-season praise and recognition, something that Mark did not. If this is the case Herzlich will surely be the top candidate for the award next season, regardless of if he is able to duplicate these gaudy numbers again. If America does not already know that Mark Herzlich is a BEAST, they will surely realize next year when he receives pre-season all-america honors and wins this award in 2009.