As we end week two of the pre-season watch lists for several major awards, we find nine ACC centers on the Rimington Trophy pre-season watch list.
The award is given annually specifically only to a center, the best center, in all of college football. The trophy was first awarded in 2000.
The ACC Centers on the Rimington Trophy Watch List
Here is the list of ACC nominees on the watch list.
Drew Kendall, Boston College, Redshirt Junior
Maurice Smith, Florida State, Redshirt Senior
Weston Franklin, Georgia Tech, Senior
Pete Nygra, Louisville, Redshirt Junior
Zeke Correll, NC State, Graduate Student
Justin Osborne, SMU, Graduate Student
Levi Rogers, Stanford, Redshirt Senior
Brian Stevens, Virginia, Graduate Student
Luke Petitbon, Wake Forest, Junior
Award Background
The award is named after former Nebraska center Dave Rimington, a consensus All-American in 1981 and 1982. The award and the foundation also serve as a fundraising vehicle for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which raises awareness for cystic fibrosis. The Rimington Trophy says it has raised over $5 million for Esiason’s charity.
The trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus this year to develop the watch list of nominees. PFF provided grades for every center in Division I football to go along with nominations from schools themselves. Players can be added to the watch list once the season starts, as they will be based on on-field performance.
In November, the Rimington Trophy committee uses the votes of three All-American panels to determine the winner. The committee uses the votes from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), the Sporting News, and the Walter Camp Foundation. Full disclosure: the author of the article is a member of the FWAA All-American committee so has a vote for the Rimington Trophy. First and second-place votes will be tallied, and the winner will be announced in early December.
Last year’s winner was Jackson Powers-Johnson, the center from the Oregon Ducks.
What’s Next
The list of award watch lists that have been released this week can be found here.
The full list of the Rimington Trophy nominees can be found here.
Next week, the Bednarik Award and the Butkus Award will release their watch lists. The Bednarik Award is given to the committee’s defensive player of the year. The Butkus Award goes to the best linebacker in the country.
