No. 20: Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB, Boston College
Previous ranking: NR
Making the case for Pierre-Louis: On a Boston College team that saw many upperclassmen play their best ball in their final seasons, Pierre-Louis, a four-year starter, stood out. He helped engineer a five-win improvement for the team in Year 1 of the Steve Addazio era, tying for fifth in the ACC in total tackles, with 108, 10.5 of which went for a loss. He had six sacks, forced one fumble, recovered two more and picked off a pass, returning the interception 33 yards for a touchdown in what proved to be a season-defining win for the Eagles over Virginia Tech.
Pierre-Louis won conference linebacker of the week honors after that Nov. 2 game, just as he did after recording a career-best 18 stops in an Oct. 5 win over Army. The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder was named first-team all-conference by the media, the coaches and ESPN.com for his efforts. The Walter Camp Football Foundation also honored the Norwalk, Conn., native last week as the Connecticut player of the year, joining Bill Romanowski (1987) as Boston College recipients of the award.