HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana University senior defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor finished seventh in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the nation's top defensive player in FCS, Stats Perform announced Tuesday.
 
The full announcement is available at https://theanalyst.com/articles/buck-buchanan-award-fcs-football-defensive-player-of-year-announcement-2025.
 
Proctor, the fifth Lion in program history to be a finalist for the prestigious honor, posted the program's highest-ever finish in Buck Buchanan Award voting. Previous nominees include Southeastern Athletics Hall of Famers Robert Alford (2012, 18^th), Isiah Corbett (2014, 22^nd), Harlan Miller (2015, 25^th) and Sione Teuhema (2017, 11^th).
 
Proctor is the fourth player in school history to crack the top 10 in the voting for the top two individual awards. Cole Kelley won the Walter Payton Award, presented to the nation's top offensive player in 2020 (Spring 2021) and was second in the voting in 2021. Other SLU top-10 finishers included quarterbacks Martin Hankins (2024, 7^th) and Bryan Bennett (2013, 8^th).
 
Proctor, a native of Oak Grove, Louisiana, is the first defensive player in school history and sixth defensive player in conference history to be named Southland Conference Player of the Year. Proctor, Bennett (2013) and Kelley (2021) are past Player of the Year winners for SLU.
 
Proctor and KK Reno (SLC Defensive Player of the Year) were two of the leaders for a 2025 Southeastern defense that was the first defense in Southland history to produce both the conference Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year. The Lions ranked among the FCS top 20 in scoring defense (18.0, 10^th), yards allowed per game (295.2, 8^th), third-down conversion percentage allowed (31.8, 11^th), first downs allowed (201, 12^th), passing yards allowed per game (161.2, 6^th), sacks per game (3.08, 11^th) and tackles for loss per game (7.0, 11^th).
 
From his defensive tackle position, Proctor led the Southland Conference with nine sacks – tied with Teuhema for the second-highest single-season total in program history. He also posted 13.0 tackles for loss and 43 tackles.
 
Rated as the top FCS interior defensive lineman by PFF with a grade of 90.6 and 36 total pressures at the end of the regular season, Proctor has drawn all 32 NFL teams to the SLU campus this fall and is projected to be a late-day 2/early-day 3 pick in next spring's NFL Draft. The 2026 NFL Draft will be held in Pittsburgh April 23-25.
 
Proctor was one of two finalists from the Southland Conference, along with SFA linebacker Jaydon Southard, who finished tied for 22^nd. The top three vote-getters in the Buck Buchanan Award voting – Fordham linebacker James Conway, Furman defensive end Joshua Stoneking and Mercer defensive end Andrew Zock – will be in attendance for the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show Jan. 3 in Nashville, Tenn.
 
2025 Buck Buchanan Award Voting
Following is a breakdown of the voting results (top three to be announced on Jan. 3). A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote four points, a third-place vote three points, a fourth-place vote two points and a fifth-place vote one point. The final number is the combined point total.
1, 2, 3 TBA (Jan. 3) between James Conway, Joshua Stoneking and Andrew Zock
4. Caden Dowler, Montana State: 5-3-4-5-6-65
5. Lando Brown, Southern Utah: 2-5-5-7-1-60
6. A.J. Pena, Rhode Island: 5-1-4-7-3-58
7. Kaleb Proctor, Southeastern: 5-1-4-4-0-49
8. Tye Niekamp, Illinois State: 4-3-2-1-2-42
9. Maximum Pulley, Wofford: 2-2-1-3-5-32
10. Erick Hunter, Morgan State: 1-2-3-1-2-26
11. Tyler Ochojski, Lehigh: 0-3-1-2-4-23
12. David Hoage, West Georgia: 1-1-1-3-3-21
13. Kimal Clark, Indiana State: 1-1-1-3-1-19
14. Logan Kopp, North Dakota State: 0-2-1-2-2-17
15. Abu Kamara, Yale: 0-1-3-0-2-15
16. Sean Allison, Drake: 1-0-1-2-1-13
T17: Luke Banbury, William & Mary: 1-1-0-1-1-12
T17. Theron Gaines, Tennessee Tech: 0-0-3-0-3-12
19. Jarod Washington, South Carolina State: 1-1-0-0-1-10
20. Jaco Psyk, UC Davis: 0-1-1-1-0-9
21. Quincy Ivory, Jackson State: 0-2-0-0-0-8
T22. Jaydon Southard, SFA: 0-1-0-0-1-5
T22. Shane Hartzell, Villanova: 0-0-1-0-2-5
24. Robert Holz, Gardner-Webb: 0-1-0-0-0-4
25. Rashon Myles Jr., Abilene Christian: 0-0-1-0-0-3
26. Kasyus Kurns, Tarleton State: 0-0-0-1-0-2
T27. Jack Stoll, Central Connecticut State: 0-0-0-0-0-0
T27. Jalen Jones, William & Mary: 0-0-0-0-0-0
T27. Nate Robinson Jr., Marist: 0-0-0-0-0-0
T27. Ty Bartrum, Harvard: 0-0-0-0-0-0
 
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