University of Notre Dame junior offensive tackle Joe Alt has been selected to the 2023 Lombardi Award Watch List, which is presented annually to the college football offensive or defensive lineman who exemplifies the character and discipline of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi in addition to outstanding performance and ability.
To be considered for the Lombardi Award™, players must be an NCAA FBS College Football team member and meet the following qualifications:
- Be a down Lineman, end to end, either on offense or defense, setting up no further than ten (10) yards to the left or right of the ball at the time of the snap.
- Be a Linebacker on defense, setting up no further than five (5) yards deep from the line of scrimmage.
- Must not come out of the offensive backfield and set up on the line of scrimmage as a Blocker or a Receiver or listed in the program as an Offensive Back or Receiver.
- Be eligible to participate in the current season.
The voting process will follow this schedule.
- October 18 – 30, 2023: Vote to determine Semi-finalists.
- November 1, 2023: Semi-finalists announcement
- November 2 – 13, 2023: Vote to determine Four Finalists
- November 15, 2023: Four Finalists announcement
- November 17 – December 4, 2023: Final vote to determine the winner.
- December 6, 2023: Lombardi Award™ Winner announced.
Alt earned first-or-second team All-America honors from 12 different outlets at the end of the 2022 season and finished the year as the top rated offensive tackle in the country according to Pro Football Focus. He helped contribute to an offensive line that paved the way for 2,457 rushing yards in 2022, a 4.6 yards-per-carry average, 25 rushing touchdowns and seven 200-yard rushing performances in 2022.
Previous Notre Dame lineman who won the Lombardi Award include DE Walt Patulski (1971), DE Ross Browner (1977), DT Chris Zorich (1990), OT Aaron Taylor (1993) and LB Manti Te’o (2012).