The John Anderson Award is presented annually to the state's top senior linebacker as part of the WSN Senior Football Awards. The award is named after John Anderson, a former Waukesha South standout who went on to star at the University of Michigan and later with the Green Bay Packers
The pre-season list will be trimmed down to about 25 semi-finalists halfway through the year, with five finalists chosen at the start of the playoffs. Winners are announced the week of the state finals.
| First Name | Last Name | School |
|---|---|---|
| Brock | Allen | DeForest |
| Drake | Ambroch | Whitnall |
| Kevin | Beckmann | Ozaukee |
| Caleb | Bembenek | Rosholt |
| Clifford | Benjamin | Webster |
| Bryce | Bennot | Wautoma |
| Anthony | Berndt | Fall River |
| Henry | Bernhagen | Weston |
| Damion | Blechinger | Turtle Lake |
| Malik | Bondon | Sun Prairie |
| Brock | Borchardt | Hillsboro |
| Zach | Bornheimer | Mosinee |
| Victor | Bourget | Regis |
| Cody | Brady | New Auburn |
| Marcus | Brion | Cameron |
| Ryan | Bruesewitz | Mad. Memorial |
| Carson | Carmody | Mt. Horeb/Barneveld |
| Vince | Champa | Whitehall |
| Derek | Check | Rosholt |
| Dominic | Cizauskas | Mukwonago |
| Andy | Colbeth | Clear Lake |
| Connor | Crotty | Shullsburg |
| Andy | Cychner | Badger |
| Cody | Daul | Freedom |
| Drew | Davis | Stratford |
| Robert | Disher | Chetek-Weyerhaeuser |
| Keegan | Eide | Blair-Taylor |
| Jordan | Eikamp | Cochrane-Fountain City |
| Austin | Eiler | Lourdes Academy |
| Austin | Eiler | Lourdes Academy |
| Mykyo | Evans | Messmer/Shorewood |
| Ben | Faga | Central |
| Daeon | Farris | Racine Case |
| Ryan | Fassbender | Antigo |
| Jake | Fernandes | Franklin |
| Mitch | Fischer | Kimberly |
| Mark | Gajewski | Appleton North |
| Robert | Garel | Mad. West |
| Mike | Garvey | Sun Prairie |
| Anthony | Giese | Mayville |
| Nick | Gomez | Oconomowoc |
| Lucas | Gregory | Edgerton |
| Garth | Groshek | Amherst |
| Josh | Hale | Antigo |
| Cale | Handel | Wisconsin Heights |
| Larry | Harleston | Racine Case |
| Mitch | Hasey | Columbus |
| Kyle | Herdt | Lake Country |
| Lucas | Hilger | Bloomer |
| Ben | Hintz | Merrill |
| Ian | Holder | DeForest |
| Ben | Horn | Martin Luther |
| John | Horst | Suring |
| Antonio | Hoye | Mad. West |
| Ryan | Hughes | Monroe |
| JJ | Hundt | Bangor |
| A.J. | Imholte | Edgewood |
| Derrick | Jennings | DeForest |
| Kelvin | Johnson | New Glarus/Monticello |
| Eldred | Jones | Aquinas |
| Jay | Kaenel | Westfield |
| Dexter | Karban | Coleman |
| Cody | Keleske | Seymour |
| Max | Keyzers | Little Chute |
| Alex | Klug | Merrill |
| Chase | Knutson | Tri-County |
| Chase | Kruser | Potosi |
| Joe | Kubacki | White Lake/Elcho |
| Jaylen | Lansin | Cumberland |
| Cooper | Lebrocq | Luck |
| Bryce | Leszczynski | Pius XI |
| Greg | Lewis | Wauwatosa West |
| Brock | Lippiatt | Monona Grove |
| Tim | Long | Big Foot |
| Corey | MacDonald | Racine St. Catherine's |
| Aikan | Major | Pepin/Alma |
| Fred | Manke | Lodi |
| Jacob | Marchillo | Clinton |
| Gavin | Marty | Pepin/Alma |
| Craig | Mason | Stanley-Boyd |
| Alex | Maternowski | Slinger |
| Jalen | Mathes | Central |
| Eric | Matuszak | Cuba City |
| Amos | Mayberry | Chippewa Falls |
| Nate | Miller | Greendale |
| Tom | Mitchell | South Milwaukee |
| Connor | Moe | Oconto |
| Nate | Moll | Northern Elite |
| Joey | Molla | Greenfield |
| Nick | Mrdutt | Glenwood City |
| Brian | Mueller | Cedar Grove-Belgium |
| Dustin | Nelson | Mondovi |
| Zack | Neumann | Peshtigo |
| Zander | Neuville | Waupaca |
| Brock | Offerdahl | Monona Grove |
| Zane | Parker | Kickapoo/LaFarge |
| Robert | Phillips | Oshkosh North |
| Chandler | Probst | Rib Lake/Prentice |
| Joe | Rademacher | St. Croix Falls |
| Mac | Renz | Jefferson |
| Cody | Rider | Iowa-Grant |
| Noah | Risch | Holmen |
| Austin | Roberts | Rice Lake |
| Kyle | Roberts | Randolph |
| Michael | Rosquist | Racine Horlick |
| Michael | Ruf | Darlington |
| Evan | Rusch | Kettle Moraine Lutheran |
| Mark | Saari | Hurley |
| Jake | Sawyers | Elkhorn |
| Andrew | Schiessl | Menasha |
| Mitchell | Schildgen | Lancaster |
| Adam | Schleis | Fox Valley Lutheran |
| Brandon | Schmitz | Cashton |
| Chad | Schnautz | Chequamegon |
| Trent | Schneidegger | Brodhead/Juda |
| Xavier | Scott | Riverside |
| Colton | Seibel | Bloomer |
| Matt | Seitz | Arrowhead |
| Alex | Seng | Poynette |
| Sam | Seonbuchner | Arrowhead |
| Alex | Servatius | Marinette |
| Joe | Sheehy | Sturgeon Bay |
| Izaak | Simar | Kenosha Indian Trail |
| Zach | Simuncak | South Milwaukee |
| Yianni | Skapinakis | Waterford |
| Scott | Skornicka | Two Rivers |
| Jeremy | Spankowski | St. Thomas More |
| Jordan | Stelzer | Bay Port |
| Andrew | Szymanski | Loyal |
| Tyler | Terveer | Whitefish Bay |
| Matt | Triatik | North Fond du Lac |
| Jacob | Van Asten | Shiocton |
| Sean | Van Helden | Stevens Point |
| Deonta | Vann | Vincent |
| Brett | Vetterkind | Mondovi |
| Gus | Wedig | Big Foot |
| Greg | Wenzel | Cedar Grove-Belgium |
| Nehemiah | Werner | Edgar |
| Mike | Winkelman | Watertown |
| Leland | Winsor | North Crawford |
| Adam | Woebbeking | Rhinelander |
| Jacob | Wudtke | Bonduel |
| Justin | Yaron | Medford |
| Ethan | Yonke | Almond-Bancroft |
| Sam | Zehnder | Martin Luther |
| Mitch | Zillman | Marshfield |
| Cory | Zwiefelhofer | Bloomer |
Pre-season watch lists are compiled from all-conference teams, stats leaders, film evaluations, WSN Player Rankings, and coach input. Players do not have to be on the pre-season list to be considered for the semi-final or finals list.
