Blanding and Kiser Named to Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List

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May 18, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia free safety Quin Blanding and inside linebacker Micah Kiser have been named to the 2016 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, honoring the top collegiate defensive student-athlete in the country that exhibits the characteristics displayed by Ronnie Lott during his legendary college and professional careers. IMPACT stands for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics and Tenacity.

Blanding (Virginia Beach, Va.), a second-team All-American and first-team All-ACC honoree last year, returns for his junior season in 2016. Blanding started all 12 games and finished the year No. 2 in the ACC with 9.58 tackles per game.

Kiser (Baltimore, Md.) was a first-team All-ACC honoree after leading the league with 9.75 tackles per game as a sophomore. Kiser started all 12 games and along with Blanding became the nation’s only defensive duo to finish the year ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in tackles for their respective conferences.

There are 42 nominated players (Lott’s uniform number) representing 33 different universities throughout the country. UVA joins Alabama (3), Michigan, Stanford, Tennessee, TCU and USC as the only school with at least two members on the watch list. There are only seven players from the ACC on the watch list.

The winner, announced in December at a gala black-tie dinner, will receive $25,000 for his school’s general scholarship fund while each of three runner-ups will receive $5,000 each for their schools.

Additionally, one athlete is chosen as Player of the Week each week during the season, earning $1,000 for his school.

A national Voter Panel of more than 300 former college coaches, players and members of the media, vote on the award.

The 13th annual Lott IMPACT Trophy Awards will be held Dec. 11th at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Calif.