Arrington, a junior, beat out teammate Brandon Short, Kansas State's Mark Simoneau and Tennessee's Raynoch Thompson for the award presented by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando.

	BUTKUS WINNERS
	Year	Player
	1999	LaVar Arrington, Penn State
	1998	Chris Claiborne, USC
	1997	Andy Katzenmoyer, Ohio St.
	1996	Matt Russell, Colorado
	1995	Kevin Hardy, Illinois
	1994	Dana Howard, Illinois
	1993	Trev Alberts, Nebraska
	1992	Marvin Jones, Florida St.
	1991	Erick Anderson, Michigan
	1990	Alfred Williams, Colorado
	1989	Percy Snow, Michigan St.
	1988	Derrick Thomas, Alabama
	1987	Paul McGowan, Florida St.
	1986	Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma
	1985	Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma

The award was the second in as many days for Arrington. He won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player Thursday.

Arrington had 72 tackles, nine sacks and 20 tackles for a loss this season. He also blocked two kicks, including a field goal attempt with four seconds left in Penn State's 20-17 victory over Pittsburgh.

Short topped the Nittany Lions with 103 tackles. The fifth-year senior also had four sacks and 12 tackles for a loss.

Thompson anchored a Tennessee defense that allowed just three rushing touchdowns and limited opponents to 2.7 yards per rushing attempt. The senior had 85 tackles and three interceptions.

Simoneau, also a senior, had a Kansas State-best 91 tackles. He had 17 tackles for a loss and 6½ sacks.

Bob Breunig, the former Arizona State and Dallas Cowboys linebacker, won the Butkus Silver Anniversary Award winner.

The awards are named for Dick Butkus, the former Illinois and Chicago Bears star.

The Nittany Lions (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) face the Texas A&M Aggies (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) on Dec. 28 in the Alamo Bowl San Antonio. It's the second time in the Alamo Bowl for Texas A&M and the first for Penn State.