NEEDHAM, Mass. -- It was a safe bet that Luke Kuechly would win an award on Sunday, when Boston College held its annual football awards banquet.

But few people would have predicted that he’d win two, and that one of those awards would be hand-delivered by an NFL Hall of Famer.

That’s exactly what happened at the Needham Sheraton, where Dick Butkus made a surprise appearance to present the 2011 Butkus Award to the junior linebacker.

“I used to watch so much football and stuff growing up, and I watched NFL Films and they’d always be talking about Dick Butkus,” Kuechly said. “I just remember watching these games and you always watch the old-time linebackers, and they’d always mention his name.”

Butkus flew in to Boston on Sunday morning from the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis to present the award, and planned to fly out Sunday night to present the high school version. In his remarks after presenting Kuechly with the award -- the famous linebacker’s dramatic entrance was set up by BC coach Frank Spaziani snapping his fingers and pointing to the doors behind an unsuspecting Kuechly -- Butkus said: “I think our past winners speak for themselves, they’re legit guys. And we’ve got one right here with Luke.”

The former Chicago Bears star also spoke about the award’s mission, to give something back to the game and to society by warning high school kids about the dangers of steroids.

In an interview with reporters after the banquet, Butkus said it’s hard for him to see much of all the candidates for the award from week to week but he knew one thing about Kuechly: “He makes tackles.”

“I’m not going to hit anyone the hardest, I’m just going to try to get 'em down,” Kuechly said. “That’s what I do. And I’ve had some help this year doing that. … My D-linemen did a great job for me this year. It’s great when it pays off. Any individual award I get, it’s a credit to the team.”

While the Eagles finished a disappointing 4-8 and didn’t qualify for a bowl for the first time in 12 years, Kuechly led the country in tackles (191) for the second straight year, added three interceptions (including one he returned 45 yards for a touchdown against Miami) and broke the career tackles records for both BC and the ACC (he now has 532).

Kuechly won the Butkus award with 18 first-place votes and 58 total points. He beat out Dont’a Hightower (33 points, 5 first-place votes), Courtney Upshaw (23, 3), Manti Te’o (20, 1), Lavonte David (16, 1) and Jarvis Jones (14, 1). He is the first Boston College player to win the award.

Never one to talk about individual achievements, Kuechly did admit that he’d thought about winning an award like the Butkus before. When he was a senior in high school, Aaron Curry won the award, and the performance stuck with the Cincinnati native.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that guy’s a monster. That would be sweet if I could do that one day,’” Kuechly said. “Now that I’ve won it I just feel like I’ve always felt, just like I’m a normal kid that good things are happening to. It’s great. It’s awesome. I still really don’t know what to say about it, it’s been just like five minutes since it happened.”

The surprise came not long after Kuechly received a standing ovation from his teammates and those in attendance when defensive coordinator Bill McGovern presented him with the William J. Flynn Award as the team’s MVP.

For those keeping track, Kuechly’s award count is up to four early on in the process: This past week, Kuechly was named a unanimous selection to the All-ACC first team and voted the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He finished second in ACC Player of the Year voting to Virginia Tech’s David Wilson.

Kuechly also is a finalist for the Lombardi, Lott and Nagurski awards and is a semifinalist for the Bednarik and Camp awards.

Other winners announced Sunday included:

Max Holloway (Gridiron Club Award); Zach Wolfe (Scout Team Award -- offense); Nick Lifka (Scout Team Award -- defense); Mark Spinney (Unsung Hero Award); Chris Pantale (Coaches’ Award); Will Thompson (Special Teams Award); Lars Anderson (Paul Cavanaugh Award); Donnie Fletcher (Jay McGillis Scholarship Award); and Ryan Quigley (Thomas F. Scanlan Award).

Quigley’s speech after he was presented with the Scanlan Award was one of the highlights of the afternoon. The prolific punter (who holds the BC and ACC records for career punts) began his remarks with his one regret in four years at Boston College: never taking public speaking.

He then proceeded to thank seemingly everyone in the room, including the hotel staff, in an earnest and thoughtful speech. Quigley’s remarks demonstrated why the Little River, S.C., native was a fit for the award, which is for the “senior football player who best exemplifies the ideals of Tom Scanlan: scholar, athlete, gentleman and friend.”

Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey.