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From Hundreds of Candidates to the “Twelve Semifinalists” to our “Four Nominees”

 

Voters will receive an email the day each voting period opens. The email will include a link to the voting website. To accept emails, voters must have "vote@simplyvoting.com" on their whitelist. The email will detail how long voters will have to make their selection via the online voting system. As a convenience to our voters' busy schedules, the voting period for each of the three votes is open for many days.

 

​Candidate Eligibility & Voting Criteria:

To be considered for the Lombardi Award™, players must be a NCAA FBS College Football team member and meet the following qualifications: 

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• Be a down Lineman, end to end, either on offense or defense, setting up no further than ten (10) yards to the left or right of the ball at the time of the snap. 

• Be a Linebacker on defense, setting up no further than five (5) yards deep from the line of scrimmage. 

• Must not come out of the offensive backfield and set up on the line of scrimmage as a Blocker or a Receiver or listed in the program as an Offensive Back or Receiver. 

• Be eligible to participate in the current season. 

 

In addition, voters may consider other relevant factors and procedures (such as the ones identified above) during the selection process.

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1.     A voter may consider the quality of the candidate’s opposing teams, the candidate’s team’s strength of schedule, and the team’s strength of season during the season he is a candidate.

2.     A voter may consider the candidate’s statistical performance for the season he is a candidate. The Lombardi Award™ is not a career award but a season Award recognizing the outstanding college football lineman of the year.

 

Watch List Additions:

The Executive Committee, when appropriate, will add players to the Lombardi Award™ Watch List (based upon performance and criteria as stated in the Eligibility and Criteria section above) without prejudice up to the commencement of voting by the Lombardi Award™ National Selection Committee.

 

Composition of the Distinguished National Selection Committee:

The Lombardi Award™ National Selection Committee consists of over 500 esteemed sports writers, analysts, commentators covering college football on a national, regional, or conference level, past RLA alumni, including winners and finalists, and head coaches. The Executive Committee does not vote, have never voted, nor affect the voting process.

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Secret and Secure Ballot and Voting Integrity:

The Executive Committee does not reveal the vote of any individual selection committee member; however, any selection committee member may reveal his or her vote. All votes will be submitted electronically via a secure online ballot voting system supervised by a prominent CPA firm.

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The Executive Committee does not publicly comment on specific voting results regarding any player or candidate beyond reporting the identity of the semi-finalists, the finalists, and the winner.

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The Executive Committee has immense respect for the wisdom of the voters of the National Selection Committee, considered one of the best in college sports. The Executive Committee provides a highly detailed ballot through which the will of the voters can be fully expressed.

 

The voting process will follow this schedule. 

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10/22, Tuesday-  first ballot sent to be returned by 11/1

11/7, Thursday-  12 semi-finalists ballots sent to be returned by 11/15.

11/20, Wednesday- 4 finalists final ballot sent to be returned by 12/4

December 11, 2024: Lombardi Award™ Winner announced at the Event