Follow @NUFBFamily Follow @coachfitz51
Dean Lowry is one of 42 football student-athletes on the watch list for the 2015 Lott IMPACT Trophy
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern senior defensive end Dean Lowry (Rockford, Ill./Boylan) has been named to the 2015 Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List, the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation announced on April 17.
Lowry was named as an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection by the Big Ten coaches after a stellar 2014 campaign. The Rockford, Ill., native started all 12 games for the Wildcats and tallied a career-high 41 tackles. Lowry contributed eight tackles-for-loss, which ranked second on the team. He also notched at least four sacks for the second consecutive season.
The Rockford, Ill., native was chosen by the coaching staff as NU's Defensive Player of the Game following the game against Northern Illinois and as the Defensive Big Playmaker following his team's overtime victory at Notre Dame. Lowry racked up six tackles, which matched a season high, to go along with 1.5 TFL and a forced fumble against the Fighting Irish.
Not only has Lowry excelled on the gridiron, but he's also been a standout in the classroom and in the community. He earned a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 2014 and he is actively involved in community service. Lowry is an ambassador and frequent presenter in Northwestern's "Wildcats Stand Up and ROARR (Reach Out and Reinforce Respect)" program. ROARR is an anti-bullying program that has been presented at dozens of local schools. During each session, student-athletes like Lowry raise awareness about bullying through activities that show the students what they have in common with each other while telling them important facts about bullying, what bullying means to them as students and why awareness is important. He has also volunteered frequently with Special Olympics.
The criteria for selecting student-athletes for the Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List and subsequently the finalists and eventually the overall winner, is based on both athletic ability and character attributes. Character transcends the on-the-field accomplishments of the players. The acronym for IMPACT is Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.
The 12th annual Lott IMPACT Trophy Award banquet will be held on Dec. 13 at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach, Calif.
Season tickets for Northwestern's seven-game slate at Ryan Field are on sale now. NU opens the docket at home against a Pac-12 foe for the second consecutive year when the Stanford Cardinal arrives in Evanston on Sept. 5. The 'Cats will also host Eastern Illinois (Sept. 12), and Ball State (Sept. 26) in nonconference action before welcoming Minnesota (Oct. 3), Iowa (Oct. 17), Penn State (Nov. 7) and Purdue (Nov. 14) for Big Ten battles. Purchase season tickets today by calling the Northwestern Athletics ticket office at 888-GO-PURPLE (467-8775) or visiting NUsports.com.
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter and Instagram, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!