Duke's Vic Dimukeje Named to Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List
Duke defensive end Victor Dimukeje was named to the preseason watch list for the Lott Impact Award, the first of several major college football awards to release their preseason list for 2020.
The award is given, in honor of former college and NFL Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott. It goes to the college defensive player that best exemplifies Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity (IMPACT). It’s also the only major college award that takes a player’s character into account.
The rising senior has 122 career tackles, 24.5 career tackles for losses, 14.0 sacks, one interception, three fumbles forced, two fumble recoveries, two pass breakups and 23 quarterback pressures in 38 career games. He’s currently 7.5 tackles for loss away from Duke's career top-10 list and is tied for sixth all-time in Duke's career sacks chart.
Dimukeje is one of 42 players—in honor of Lott’s jersey number—named to the watch list, including nine ACC players.
Duke has never had a player win the award, but Blue Devils have made the watch list every year since 2013.
2013: Ross Cockrell
2014: David Helton (finalist for the award)
2015: Kelby Brown and Jeremy Cash
2016: A.J. Wolf
2017: Bryon Fields
2018: Ben Humphreys
2019: Edgar Cerenord
The 42 student-athletes who make up the Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List come from 41 different schools. Only defending National Champion LSU has two candidates.
This year’s Watch List has 16 linebackers, 15 defensive backs and 11 defensive linemen. The Big Ten and the ACC both have nine candidates while the Pac-12 has eight, the SEC seven, the Big 12 five, the Mountain West two, the AAC one and one independent, Notre Dame.
Past winners of the award include J.J. Watt, Luke Kuechly, Jabrill Peppers and David Pollack.
