LSU’s Devin White wins Butkus Award as nation’s top LB

By Dec 4, 2018, 6:55 PM EST
0 Comments

LSU linebacker Devin White has won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, it was announced Tuesday.

The presentation was made within the LSU football complex by Matt Butkus, the son of the award’s namesake.

The 6-foot-1, 240-pound junior, who will compete with LSU in the Fiesta Bowl but is likely gone after that, has recorded 115 tackles and 12 TFLs.

White beat out Kentucky’s Josh Allen, Michigan’s Devin Bush, Clemson’s Tre Lamar and Alabama’s Dylan Moses to win the honor. He is LSU’s first Butkus winner but the third straight from the SEC, following Georgia’s Roquan Smith and Alabama’s Reuben Foster.

He is LSU’s 13th national award winner, the first since Odell Beckham, Jr. won the Paul Hornung Award in 2013.

Miami fires offensive coordinator Josh Gattis after 1 season

Associated PressJan 28, 2023, 12:24 AM EST
josh gattis fired
Reinhold Matay/USA TODAY Sports
2 Comments

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami fired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis on Friday, ending the former Broyles Award winner’s time with the Hurricanes after only one season.

The school announced the move in a one-sentence press release, with no other detail: “Josh Gattis has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator, Miami head football coach Mario Cristobal announced Friday,” read the release, sent from a university spokesman.

The Hurricanes went 5-7 in Gattis’ lone season. He was brought in by Miami only a few weeks after winning the 2021 Broyles Award – given to the nation’s top assistant coach – while serving as Michigan’s offensive coordinator and helping the Wolverines reach the College Football Playoff.

But Miami’s offense, for a number of reasons, failed to meet expectations in 2022. Part of that was injuries; starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke battled a shoulder injury, and the Hurricanes turned to Jake Garcia – who has since transferred – and Jacurri Brown for much of the season.

Miami scored 100 points in its first two games last fall, overpowering Bethune-Cookman and Southern Miss. The Hurricanes averaged only 18.3 points the rest of the way, and finished the year 5-0 in games where the defense allowed no more than 14 points – but 0-7 when opponents scored more than 14.

Miami was 86th nationally in total offense last season, averaging 367.1 yards per game, and 97th in scoring offense.

Gattis played at Wake Forest and worked at North Carolina, Western Michigan, Vanderbilt, Penn State, Alabama and Michigan before coming to Miami.

Audit: LSU discovered $1M overpayment to Kelly in 2022

Associated PressJan 26, 2023, 12:27 AM EST
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
5 Comments

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU accidentally overpaid Tigers football coach Brian Kelly by $1 million during the first year of a 10-year, $100 million contract, but discovered the error and has moved to correct it, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office said Wednesday.

Kelly was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments in 2022 because duplicate payments made both to Kelly’s LLC and to the coach directly.

The double payments began in May and continued until LSU officials detected the errors in November.

“LSU management and the head football coach have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so the amount of overpayment will be recouped by the conclusion of fiscal year 2023,” the Legislative Auditor’s report stated.

Kelly, who previously coached at Notre Dame for 12 seasons, was hired by LSU after the 2021 season, when the Tigers went 6-7 for its first losing season since 1999.

LSU exceeded expectations in Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge, winning the SEC West Division and finishing 10-4 after a 63-7 victory over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl.