PREP PREVIEWS: Dudley named to Butkus Award watch list

T.J. Dudley and the Catholic Knights open the regular season on Aug. 20 against B.B. Comer. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

TJ Dudley had almost forgotten about the visit from the Butkus Award Foundation when he was notified he was one of 51 (matching the jersey number of) Dick Butkus Award nominees as the nation’s top high school linebacker.

“When they first visited people to find out who would be on the nomination list, it was the third game of my junior season,” he recalled. “When they put out the release, I was on there. It’s amazing. It’s a blessing. It shows that my hard work is paying off.”

The Catholic senior, who has already committed to play at Oregon next fall, had 117 tackles, including 20 for loss, as a sophomore and 126 tackles, including 10 for loss, last year as a junior. 

He is more interested in leading the Knights back to the 3A finals after a heartbreaking loss to Fyffe last year at Bryant-Denny Stadium. His coach, Kirk Johnson, made him tweet out the news, adding, “He doesn’t understand the impact he has.

“It’s a huge honor. We as coaches often forget the type of player that he is. We’re so fortunate to be around him every day. But to have a Butkus finalist? That’s huge because Butkus is not just what you do on the field, it’s your GPA, what you do in the classroom. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”