Heel Tough Blog: Peyton Seelmann Named to Butkus Award Watch List

@hinshaw.media- Instagram

Richmond transfer Peyton Seelmann may be a question mark in the eyes of some this season making the jump from the FCS level to the Power 4 level, but he landed on a significant watch list on Thursday afternoon.

Seelmann was one of the 51 linebackers that was named to the Dick Butkus Award watch list on Thursday, sitting amongst some pretty prestigious company. The 51 players selected honors Butkus’ No. 51 and the award recognizes the toughness, instincts, leadership, competitiveness, and football character of the all time great linebacker. The award is given to the best linebacker in college football each season and will be handed out officially the week of December 7th.

Seelmann comes to Chapel Hill after a two year stint in Richmond. Last year, as a sophomore, he finished with 120 total tackles, which ranked eighth in the entire country, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, nine total quarterback pressures, two interceptions, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the way to earning first team All-Patriot League honors. Seelman was also outstanding in coverage, allowing 29 of his 38 targets to be caught for just 201 yards and no touchdowns. In the game against the Tar Heels this season, he finished with a team-high nine total tackles and one total quarterback pressure.

While there are still some concerns about how he’ll handle the speed and physicality of the power conference level, the returns have been fairly good so far in camp. If he can prove that he can translate to this level, he has a chance to at least earn some postseason recognition from the conference.