Tigers Land Four on Butkus Watch List

Watch lists are expansive for a reason — if you play a position after all, the people who vote on awards should certainly be watching to see if you might be one of the best at that position.

Still, LSU’s defense had a pretty cool distinction on Monday when the Butkus Award (you know, the one Devin White won last year?) announced it’s list: all four projected starters for the Tiger defense were mentioned.

Michael Divinity, Jacob Phillips, K’Lavon Chaisson and Patrick Queen were all listed — the most of any school and possibly the only complete linebacking corps included in total on the list.

Phillips, LSU’s leading returning tackler, broke out as White’s running mate, while Divinity led LSU with five sacks from the F-outside linebacker position. He’ll be joining Phillips inside, replacing White. Chaisson looked primed to break out from the Bench outside linebacker spot, but tore his ACL at the end of the season opener against Miami. Queen subbed in at a couple of spots over the course of the season and finished with 40 tackles overall. He led the team with nine tackles, plus a sack in the Fiesta Bowl win, subbing in for Phillips for the first half due to a suspension. All four should start for the Tigers this season in some combination.

Here are a few videos celebrating the group:

White became LSU’s first ever Butkus winner last season.