The 43rd March to Gridiron Greatness Continues

Top 25 Finalists for 2012 Rotary Lombardi Award Announced Today

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Rotary Club of Houston announced today the top 25 finalists for the 43^rd Rotary Lombardi Award. The award show will be held December 5, 2012, at the Hobby Center in Houston, Texas and is part of a two-day schedule of events. The announcement was broadcast live by Yahoo Sports Radio on the Rivals Show hosted by David Nuno. The broadcast was attended by Houston area Rotarians and friends of Rotary at the House of Blues in downtown Houston on October 6, 2012.

Fifteen defensive players and ten offensive players were named to the Top 25 list. The Southeastern Conference leads the pack with nine players. The other conferences represented are the Big 12 with four players, the Big 10 with four players, the Atlantic Coast with three players, the Pac 12 with three players, the Western Atlantic with one player, and one Independent.

The top 25 finalists are:

Bjoern Werner	Florida State	Atlantic Coast
Cornellius Carradine	Florida State	Atlantic Coast
Jonathan Cooper	North Carolina	Atlantic Coast
William Gholston	Michigan State	Big 10
Johnathan Hankins	Ohio State	Big 10
Kawann Short	Purdue	Big 10
Chris Borland	Wisconsin	Big 10
Arthur Brown	Kansas State	Big 12
Alex Okafor	Texas	Big 12
Jackson Jeffcoat	Texas	Big 12
Joe Madsen	West Virginia	Big 12
Manit Te'o	Notre Dame	Independent
Will Sutton	Arizona State	Pac 12
Khaled Holmes	USC	Pac 12
Star Lotulelei	Utah	Pac 12
Barrett Jones	Alabama	SEC
Chance Warmack	Alabama	SEC
DJ Fluker	Alabama	SEC
Corey Lemonier	Auburn	SEC
Jarvis Jones	Georgia	SEC
Barkevious Mingo	LSU	SEC
Sam Montgomery	LSU	SEC
Jadeveon Clowney	South Carolina	SEC
Damontre Moore	Texas A&M	SEC
Travis Johnson	San Jose State	Western Atlantic

Going forward, the Rotary Lombardi Award committee will announce their “seven blocks of granite” semi-finalists on October 27^th followed by the announcement of the four finalists on November 17^th.

Established in 1970, the Rotary Lombardi Award has raised millions of dollars to help support cancer research, public education and direct services to cancer patients. The tradition of service above self – the Rotary motto - continues this year.

For more information on the two-day schedule of events and ticket opportunities, please visit www.rotarylombardiaward.org and follow the March to Gridiron Greatness on Twitter at @RotaryLombardiAward and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Lombardi-Award/126108310763275.

National College Football Awards Association:

The Rotary Lombardi Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association’s official website, www.NCFAA.org.