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UCLA Sports

Thomas Is a Butkus Award Finalist

By Steve Henson
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Robert Thomas was announced Thursday as one of three finalists for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker.

Thomas, a senior middle linebacker, joined Rocky Calmus of Oklahoma and E.J. Henderson of Maryland on a conference call Thursday.

“Last year I was a semifinalist, and now to be among three elite is something special,” Thomas said.

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Thomas leads the Pacific 10 Conference with 99 tackles, including 22 for loss, which ties the UCLA record held by Marvcus Patton.

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Steve Henson

Steve Henson is a reporter with the Fast Break sports team at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as an assistant editor and reporter in the Sports department. Henson was a leader in digital-only newsrooms from 2007-19 as a senior editor and columnist at Yahoo Sports and as senior editor at the USA Today Sports Media Group. This is his second stint at The Times, having covered the Dodgers and UCLA as well as doing enterprise, investigative and features writing from 1985-2007. Henson was awarded first place in sports features in 2021 by the L.A. Press Club and has been honored several times by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and also by the California News Publishers Assn., the Football Writers Assn. of America and U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

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