The awards keep flowing in for senior David Helton.
After leading the ACC in tackles for a second-straight season, Helton was named a 2014 Lott IMPACT Trophy finalist Sunday, as UCLA's Eric Kendrick took home the hardware. Even though he did not take home the Lott Trophy, it has been a successful on-field and off-field senior campaign for Helton, as he was awarded the 2014 William V. Campbell Trophy last Tuesday.
"There's a lot of negatives that are brought out in the media continually because that's what people want to see when they go on the news," Helton said. "But man, there's an incredible amount of people out there who are great students, great players—and most definitely on our team."
The Chattanooga, Tenn., native has maintained a 3.63 grade point average as a psychology major and was a Capital One/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America selection and three-time Academic All-ACC Football Team honoree. He was also honored with the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award and ACC Jim Tatum Award.
"It's definitely rewarding for me to be that person that's put in the spotlight and be one of those people," Helton said. "But honestly, there are a lot of guys out there that do the right thing."
But the books are not the only thing Helton has been hitting this year, as he leads the ACC and ranks 15th in the nation in tackles per game at 10.4. His career mark of 338 tackles places him 10th in Blue Devil history.
If he continues at his current pace, Helton should best his career-high mark for single-season tackles of 133 set last year, as he sits at 125 with the Hyundai Sun Bowl yet to be played.
The on-field success in his final season comes on the heels of a last-minute move to the Mike linebacker position, as Helton was forced to switch spots in August following Kelby Brown's season-ending ACL tear. Despite being a notably quiet leader on the field, he was able to make the transition seamlessly and lead Duke's defense, which finished the regular season ranked 20th in the nation with 20.6 points allowed per game.
Helton becomes the first Blue Devil to be finish as a finalist for the Lott trophy and just the third ACC player to be honored. Boston College's Luke Kuechly and Notre Dame's Manti Te'o are the other two to be receive the honor, though the Fighting Irish were not a part of the conference in 2012 when Te'o won the award.
IMPACT is an acronym for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity. The award selection is voted on by members of the national media, previous finalists and the board of directors of the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation. The Lott Trophy is named in honor of former Southern California cornerback and NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira, a former NFL vice president of officiating, was the keynote speaker at the ceremony at The Pacific Club.
"I hope that people can see through this that Duke football is not just Duke football," Helton said. "It's a reflection of Duke athletics and Duke University. We're kind of the whole package.
Helton will return to the field one final time as a Blue Devil Dec. 27 at 2 p.m., as Duke takes on No. 15 Arizona State in the Sun Bowl.
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