HOUSTON (AP) — Pittsburgh’s Aaron Donald picked up another award Wednesday night, winning the Rotary Lombardi Award.
Donald beat out Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley, Missouri defensive end Michael Sam and UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr for the award given annually to the nation’s top college lineman.
It’s already been a big week for Donald, a senior defensive tackle who won the Bronko Nagurski award given to the nation’s top college defensive player Monday.
“It’s a true blessing and a true honor for people to notice me and notice the hard work I put into this game,” Donald said.
The 6-foot, 285-pound Donald leads the nation with 26½ tackles for losses and his 28½ career sacks are tops among active players in the Football Bowl Subdivision and fourth in school history.
Donald has 10 sacks, 54 tackles and has forced four fumbles this season.
Though Pittsburgh is headed to the play Bowling Green in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on Dec. 26, Donald was disappointed that his 6-6 team didn’t do better.
“The record doesn’t show what we wanted as a team,” Donald said. “I just went out there and tried to do my job, and that’s play football fast and physical and try to make plays to help my team win.”