College football’s season may have wrapped up weeks ago, but the award season continued Friday night. Oregon defensive back Ugochukwu Amadi was named the winner of the Lombardi Award for the 2018 college football season at a banquet in Houston. The Lombardi Award is for the top FBS player based on performance, leadership, character, and resiliency by the Lombardi Foundation in Houston, Texas.
Amadi was one of seven finalists for the Lombardi Award this season. He beat out Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love, Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, Kansas State offensive tackle Dalton Risner, Alabama offensive tackle Jonah Williams, and Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins.
✅ Performance
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) January 26, 2019
✅ Leadership
✅ Character
✅ Resiliency
Congrats, @UAmadi7_ on winning the 2018 Lombardi Award for college player of the year! #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/erenozQOht
Mood pic.twitter.com/ZGkmgTTf2b
— Ugo Amadi (@UAmadi7_) January 26, 2019
The Pac-12 has been the home to the two most recent Lombardi Award winners. Stanford running back Bryce Love won the award for the 2017 season. Other previous winners of the Lombardi Award include Aaron Donald of Pittsburgh (2013), Luke Kuechly of Boston College (2011), Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska (2009) and Terrell Suggs of Arizona State (2002). Amadi is the first player from Oregon to win the award in the history of the Lombardi Award, which dates back to 1970.
