HOUSTON – Tennessee senior offensive lineman Darnell Wright is one of 88 players who will be up for the Rotary Lombardi Award this season, as the award, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Houston, released its midseason update on Monday afternoon.
The Rotary Lombardi Award® goes annually to the college football offensive or defensive lineman, who in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the character and discipline of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi.
Wright is one of 15 players from the SEC on the list, which leads all conferences.
The Huntington, West Virginia, native has been the leader of the Vols’ offensive line, which is among the best in the country. Tennessee leads the nation in total offense, averaging 551.0 yards per game, and also rank fourth nationally in yards per play (7.35).
Wright has started all six games at right tackle for the Big Orange this season, helping lead the program to its first 6-0 start since 1998, including a nation’s best four wins over ranked opponents. He has not given up a single sack and has allowed just four pressures in 422 offensive snaps played this season while consistently grading out as one of the team’s top offensive linemen by PFF.com.
The 2022 Rotary Lombardi Award® watch list is compiled by a subcommittee of the Rotary Lombardi Award® committee and included SID submissions. On the preliminary watch list, players were selected based on their past performance and expectations for the upcoming 2022 college football season. The updated list includes additional players whose play on the field at the halfway point in the season has merited their inclusion.
The full watch list can be found HERE. The voting process and timeline for this year’s award can be found below.
- October 24 – 31, 2022: Vote to determine semifinalists
- November 2, 2022: Semifinalists announcement
- November 4 – 14, 2022: Vote to determine four finalists
- November 17, 2022: Four finalists announcement
- November 18 – December 5, 2022: Final vote to determine winner
- December 7, 2022: Rotary Lombardi Award® Winner announced