Raphael Kirby named to Butkus Award preseason watch list

Miami senior among 51 players vying for nation's top linebacker honors

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami linebacker Raphael Kirby is among 51 players named to the preseason watch list for the 2015 Butkus Award.

The award honors the nation's top collegiate linebacker.

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Kirby, a senior from Stone Mountain, Georgia, started all 13 games for the Hurricanes in 2014, finishing with 54 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He also intercepted two passes.

He joins Duke's Kelby Brown, Louisville's James Burgess and Florida State's Reggie Northup and Terrance Smith from the Atlantic Coast Conference on the watch list.

Former Hurricanes linebacker Dan Morgan won the award in 2000.

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