Maryland football ILB Daniel Wingate named to 2025 Butkus Award Watch List

Ahmed Ghafir
Jul 30, 2025
2 min read

After generating buzz as the next emerging star on Maryland football’s defense over the last two offseasons, linebacker Daniel Wingate was named to the 2025 Butkus Watch List on Wednesday afternoon.

Wingate, a 6-foot-5 inside linebacker, is coming off a breakout season where he finished third on the team with 50 tackles and tied for third with 6.5 tackles for loss in 2024. Wingate, who has played in 23 games over his first two seasons, also posted career-highs against Rutgers with seven tackles and two tackles for loss as the former St. Vincent Pallotti standout is expected to step into a full-time role in 2025.

With Ruben Hyppolite exhausting his eligibility and now looking to take over as the middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears as a rookie, Wingate is set to take over as the MIKE linebacker under assistant Zac Spavital. Wingate was also one of three players to represent the program at Big Ten Media Day alongside head coach Mike Locksley last week as the junior looks to step into a leadership role on defense in 2025.

“Some strides I have made for myself is one, to become more of a leader because we have such a young team, we need guys that [are] able to step up and lead this team. and also just working on pass drops and being able to play in coverage as a linebacker, that’s something I really tried to focus on.”

The Butkus Award watch list is comprised of 51 linebackers from 39 schools nationwide, honoring the legendary No. 51 jersey worn by Dick Butkus during his Hall of Fame career. Candidates will be narrowed to semifinalists on November 4, finalists on November 25, and the winner will be announced by December 10, with the presentation set to take place on University of Illinois’ campus in early 2026.

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