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In the fall of 2017, for the 13th straight year, a defensive player will captain Harvard football.

At an end-of-season banquet, teammates voted junior linebacker Luke Hutton to be team leader for next season. Hutton will succeed cornerback and fifth-year senior Sean Ahern.

“I was a little overwhelmed at first,” Hutton said. “There’s so much history behind being captain…. I felt honored, more than anything.”

Hutton’s selection as the 144th captain marks the fifth year in the last seven in which a linebacker has led the Crimson. Most recently inside linebacker Matt Koran steered the 2015 squad to a 9-1 record and Ivy League title.

In 2016 Hutton topped Harvard with 56 tackles. Leading a depleted linebacker unit, he battled injuries himself early in the year but saw action in ever game. That performance landed Hutton on the All-Ivy second team.

“This year just magnified his passion,” said sophomore wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley. “He was hurt, and you couldn’t tell. He was always out there playing.”

Hutton’s finest game came in mid-October, when Harvard visited Princeton with first place on the line. The junior set a career high with 10 tackles, and on the first possession of overtime, he dove to break up a third-down pass.

That play, which forced the Tigers to kick a field goal, proved crucial. When the Crimson offense took the field, senior quarterback Joe Viviano marched to the two and plunged into the end zone for the Harvard win.

Hutton already has captain experience from his time at Lake Travis, a 2,400-person high school 20 miles outside Austin, Texas. As a senior, Hutton guided the football team to a 12-2 record.

“His love for the game is unmatched,” Shelton-Mosley said. “I’ve never met anyone who has the same passion that he does for the game. He’s able with that passion to keep us all accountable. It’s partly from being from Texas, I think.

Athleticism runs deep in the Hutton family. Hutton’s grandfather, Claude King, played football for the Houston Oilers, and Hutton’s uncle, Kelly Gruber, manned third base for the Toronto Blue Jays. In addition, the linebacker has an older brother, Jonathan, who played basketball at a pair of Texas colleges, Concordia Austin and Texas Lutheran University.

The banquet celebrated more than Hutton, however.

Teammates voted defensive lineman James Duberg as the most valuable player. A unanimous selection to the All-Ivy first team, the senior started every game and finished second on Harvard with four-and-a-half sacks. The 2016 season marked the third straight year in which Duberg has gained all-league recognition.

At the banquet, two other senior linemen grabbed awards, testifying to the upfront strength of the Crimson. Defensive end Langston Ward was recognized for his “dedication to the program,” and offensive lineman Max Rich earned the honor of “top interior lineman.”

Ward, a native of Spokane, Wash., tallied two sacks and 27 tackles. Meanwhile the 6’7” Rich led the offensive line, garnering attention from NFL scouts along the way.

“[The seniors] brought confidence and joy to the game of football and to our team that’s going to be hard to replace,” Hutton said. “But we have to have guys step up and accept the challenge.”

The final two prizes—the Joe Restic Award for “leadership, scholarship, and integrity” and the Robert F. Kennedy award for “desire and determination”—went to senior halfback Anthony Firkser and senior defensive back Sean Ahern, respectively.

For three seasons, Firkser tormented Ivy League defenses. As a sophomore and junior, he made the Ancient Eight second team despite playing behind NFL-bound tight end Ben Braunecker.

In 2016, as a senior, Firkser topped the program with seven receiving touchdowns. He went over 70 yards in six games and finished with 14 career scores, good for sixth in school history.

Ahern also saw serious action before 2016. As a sophomore, he emerged as one of the premier shutdown corners in the Ivy League and landed on the all-conference first team; as a junior, he repeated the feat.

Named the captain before the 2016 season, Ahern seemed poised for another dominant campaign. But an October shoulder injury ended his season. Even then, he ended with eight pass breakups—more than anyone else on the Crimson—and an All-Ivy honorable mention.

Next season, Hutton will replace Ahern as the official team leader. And if words mean anything, the junior linebacker seems ready to continue the values that previous captains have demonstrated.

“I looked up to Norman Hayes, Matt Koran and Sean Ahern, [the last three captains],” Hutton said. “I view them as leaders and incredible human being…. I know how much those three guys had an impact on me as a young player.”

Captain for the 2017 season: junior linebacker Luke Hutton

Frederick Greeley Crocker Award for “the most valuable player”: senior defensive tackle James Duberg

Henry H. Lamar Award for “dedication to the program”: senior defensive end Langston Ward

Joe Restic Award for “leadership, scholarship, and integrity”: senior halfback Anthony Firkser

Joseph E. Wolf Award for “the top interior lineman”: senior offensive lineman Max Rich

Robert F. Kennedy Award for “desire and determination”: senior defensive back Sean Ahern

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.