BATON ROUGE – LSU senior left tackle La’el Collins is one of 30 Football Bowl Subdivision players nationwide selected as a candidate for the 2014 Senior CLASS Award, it was announced Thursday.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
Collins, who is on pace to graduate in 2015 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, is in his second season as LSU’s starting left tackle where he earned second-team All-SEC recognition as a junior.
Through three games this season, Collins leads all LSU offensive linemen in snaps played at 188 and knockdown blocks at 24.5, including a career-best 11.5 knockdowns against Sam Houston State.
After choosing to return to LSU for his senior season, Collins was named to the team’s Unity Council for the second straight season where he serves as one of the leaders for the squad.
Collins also volunteers his time at the local Boys and Girls Club of Baton Rouge to give back to a program that once helped him mature when he was a boy.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans who will select the winner.
The award recipient will be announced in early January.
2014 Senior CLASS Award Football Candidates
Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska
Michael Bennett, Ohio State
Shane Carden, East Carolina
Sam Carter, TCU
Cameron Clemmons, Western Kentucky
La’el Collins, LSU
Chris Conley, Georgia
Reese Dismukes, Auburn
Jamil Douglas, Arizona State
Dominic Espinosa, Texas
Cody Fajardo, Nevada
Trey Flowers, Arkansas
Garrett Frye, Georgia Southern
Devin Gardner, Michigan
Leighton Gasque, Middle Tennessee
Charles Harris, Memphis
Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
Eric Kendricks, UCLA
Nate Leonard, Texas-San Antonio
Tyler Lockett, Kansas State
Sean Mannion, Oregon State
Bradley Marquez, Texas Tech
Karl Mickelsen, Fresno State
Mitch Morse, Missouri
Mark Murphy, Indiana
Andy Phillips, Central Michigan
Terrance Plummer, UCF
Jordan Richards, Stanford
Deterrian Shackelford, Mississippi
JaCorey Shepherd, Kansas