The award is unique because it represents the first trophy to give equal weight to personal character as well as athletic performance from a defensive college player.
Below you will find a list of the current crop of candidates in the running for The Lott Trophy.
 | Sam Acho | Texas |    |
| Akeem Ayers | UCLA |  |
| Mark Barron | Alabama | |
| Jeremy Beal | Oklahoma | |
| Brandon Boykin | Georgia | |
| Rashad Carmichael | Virginia Tech | |
| Ugo Chinasa | Oklahoma State | |
| Jared Crick | Nebraska | |
| Brian Duncan | Texas Tech | |
| John Graves | Virginia Tech | |
| Mark Herzlich | Boston College | |
| Cameron Heyward | Ohio State | |
| Ross Homan | Ohio State | |
| Tejay Johnson | TCU | |
| Jeron Johnson | Boise State | |
| A.J. Jones | Florida | |
| Greg Jones | Michigan State | |
| Thomas Keiser | Stanford | |
| Ryan Kerrigan | Purdue | |
| Cliff Matthews | South Carolina | |
| Casey Matthews | Oregon | |
| Josh McNary | Army | |
| Wyatt Middleton | Navy | |
| Von Miller | Texas A & M | |
| Dontay Moch | Nevada | |
| Mike Mohamed | Cal | |
| Rahim Moore | UCLA | |
| Stephen Paea | Oregon State | |
| Patrick Peterson | LSU | |
| Robert Quinn | North Carolina | |
| Andrew Rich | BYU | |
| Greg Romeus | Pitt | |
| Kenny Rowe | Oregon | |
| Tyler Sash | Iowa | |
| Kelvin Sheppard | LSU | |
| Malcolm Smith | USC | |
| J.T. Thomas | West Virginia | |
| JJ Watt | Wisconsin | |
| Duenta Williams | North Carolina | |
| Lawrence Wilson | Connecticut | |
| Anthony Wright | Air Force | |
| Alex Wujciak | Maryland | |
Click here to see up-to-date stats on all the players in the country.