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| Ohio State's A J Hawk named MCS Defensive Player of the Year. |
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 Spotlight: Hawk Named Defensive Player of the Year by the Master Coaches Survey
December 28, 2005
By MCSPOLL.com staff
It's been a whirlwind month for Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk, who traveled to three different states in a span of five days in early December as a finalist for the Lombardi, Butkus, Bednarik, Walter Camp and Lott awards. Next stop, Tempe, Ariz., where the senior will wrap up his farewell tour against Notre Dame in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2.
He'll make his final collegiate appearance in Sun Devil Stadium, having wrapped up the Lombardi Award, several All-America honors and now his selection as the Master Coaches Survey Defensive Player of the Year.
"A.J. epitomizes the linebacker position," said former Syracuse head coach Dick MacPherson, one of the Master Coaches who voted on the award. "I haven't seen a player as dominating in a long time."
With Hawk in the lineup, opponents were forced to alter their game plans in an often-futile attempt to avoid the player who was known as a run stuffer and force as a blitzer. The team's leading tackler in each of the last three seasons, Hawk rang up 60 solo tackles, 7½ sacks, one interception and scored one touchdown during Ohio State's 2005 campaign.
Soon after being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, he became the fifth Buckeye in school history to win the Lombardi Award. With his selection as the nation's top lineman, Hawk joins the likes of former OSU greats Chris Spielman (1987) and Orlando Pace (the only repeat winner in 1995 and 1996).
Hawk, the Buckeyes' co-captain, also was a near-unanimous choice as the team's most valuable player this season.
"He is so humble; the only vote he didn't get was his," OSU head coach Jim Tressel told the Associated Press recently.
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