Micah Baskerville Named to Butkus Award Watch List

An anchor on the Tigers defense, Baskerville and Damone Clark held down the linebacker position last season. Clark would finish as a Butkus Award Finalist in 2021 with Georgia’s Nakobe Dean taking home the hardware.

Baskerville returns to Death Valley for a fifth season with some question marks surrounding he may fit on this defense. The Tigers have some depth with the linebackers such as Mike Jones Jr., Greg Penn III, Virginia transfer West Weeks and five-star true freshman Harold Perkins arriving on campus this summer.

Perkins and DeMario Tolan are two true freshmen in this linebacker room who have the chance to compete for significant snaps this fall, leaving some hesitancy on where Baskerville may fit into the group.

A full-time starter the last two seasons, Baskerville has shown what he’s capable of on the gridiron, but with new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Matt House entering the mix, it’s a fresh start for each and every defensive player.

It’s clear Baskerville’s success a season ago deserves to be recognized, which is what has him placed on the Butkus Award watch list. A sideline-to-sideline guy who has all the tools to take over in his final season in Death Valley, it’ll be interesting to monitor the role he carves out for Coach House’s defense.