That’s right, we’ve got more news about Penn State football players and watchlists! Senior Mike Hull was one of 51 linebackers selected to the Butkus Award Watchlist today after accruing 78 tackles in 2013.

Hull has 154 tackles in his career and will be the leader of Linebacker U.’s corps this season. He played well when it mattered, notching nine tackles in six 2013 Big Ten games and finishing the season fifth in conference play in tackles per game (9.1). The Canonsburg native missed two games last season but still wound up second in the team in tackles.

Penn State players are no stranger to this distinction. LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny brought home the trophy in 1999 and 2005, respectively, and both Mike Mauti and Gerald Hodges were recently semifinalists for the honor in 2012. Shane Conlan (1986), Andre Collins (1989), Brandon Short (1999), and Dan Connor (2007) have also been finalists for the hardware.

If it seems like we’ve had five posts about a player being named to a watchlist over the last week, well, we have:

•  Christian Hackenberg and Jordan Lucas were named to the Maxwell and Bednarik Watchlists on Monday,
•  Jesse James and Kyle Carter were picked for the Mackey Watchlist on Tuesday;
•  Donovan Smith was picked for the Outland Watchlist on Thursday; and
•  Jordan Lucas was selected to the Jim Thorpe Watchlist on Friday.

Promising stuff for James Franklin’s first year at the helm. More news of this variety could come later this week, as the Davey O’Brien watchlist for the nation’s top quarterback will be revealed Wednesday, the Doak Walker watchlist for top running back on Thursday, and the Walter Camp watchlist for player of the year on Friday.