Griffin named to watch list

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

2008 RIMINGTON TROPHY SPRING WATCH LIST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rimington Trophy Releases 2008 Spring Watch List

NEW YORK CITY (May 7, 2008) - The Rimington Trophy committee has released its 2008 Spring Watch List.  The list includes two finalists from the 2007 Watch List, as well as the 2007 winner of the Rimington Trophy, Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs.  The Trophy has not had a repeat winner in its history.

In all, there are 42 players on the Watch List.  A total of seven players represent the Big-12 Conference.  The PAC-10 Conference is represented by six players, while the ACC and SEC have five players each on the Watch List.

Listed below are the members of the 2008 Rimington Trophy Spring Watch List.

Alabama                      Antoine Caldwell          6'3"      292 lbs.            Senior

Arizona                        Blake  Kerley            6'2"      285 lbs.            Junior

Arkansas                      Jonathan  Luigs              6'4"      314 lbs.            Senior

Auburn                        Jason    Bosley            6'2"      281 lbs.            Senior

Baylor                          J.D.      Walton            6'3"      302 lbs.            Junior

California                      Alex    Mack              6'5"      316 lbs.          Senior

Central Michigan          Colin    Miller              6'3"      280 lbs.    Sophomore

Colorado                      Daniel  Sanders          6'3"      325 lbs.          Senior

Connecticut                  Keith    Gray                6'2"      287 lbs.      RS Senior

Florida International      Brad    Serini              6'4"      275 lbs.    Sophomore

Florida State                Ryan    McMahon        6'3"      275 lbs.    Sophomore

Hawaii                          John    Estes              6'2"      290 lbs.            Junior

Houston                      Carl      Barnett            6'3"      285 lbs.            Junior

Idaho                          Adam  Korby              6'2"      292 lbs.            Junior

Indiana                        Alex    Perry                6'7"      292 lbs.  Sophomore

Kansas                        Ryan    Cantrell            6'3"      295 lbs.          Senior

Kansas State                Jordan  Bedore              6'3"      308 lbs.          Senior

Louisiana-Lafayette      Chris    Fisher              6'2"      280 lbs.  Sophomore

Louisville                      Eric      Wood              6'4"      309 lbs.          Senior

LSU                            Brett    Helms              6'2"      283 lbs.          Senior

Maryland                      Edwin  Williams          6'2"      315 lbs.          Senior

Memphis                      Philip    Beliles              6'5"      270 lbs.          Senior

Nevada                        Dominic  Green              6'3"      295 lbs.          Senior

Ohio State                    Jim      Cordle              6'4"      297 lbs.          Junior

Oklahoma                    Jon      Cooper              6'2"      289 lbs.          Senior

Oklahoma State            Andrew Lewis                6'5"      290 lbs.          Junior

Penn State                    A.Q.  Shipley              6'1"      293 lbs.          Junior

Rutgers                        Ryan    Blaszcyk          6'4"      285 lbs.          Senior

SMU                            Mitch  Enright              6'2"      275 lbs.          Junior

South Florida                Jake    Griffin                6'4"      307 lbs.          Senior

Stanford                      Alex    Fletcher            6'3"      295 lbs.          Senior

TCU                            Blake  Schlueter          6'3"      272 lbs.          Senior

Temple                        Alex    Derenthal          6'4"      294 lbs.    RS Senior

Tennessee                    Josh  McNeil            6'4"      280 lbs.          Junior

Texas                          Chris    Hall                  6'4"      300 lbs.            Junior

Troy                            Danny  Franks            6'3"      308 lbs.            Junior

USC                            Kristopher  O'Dowd            6'5"      300 lbs.    Sophomore

Utah State                    Ryan    Tonnemacher    6'3"      292 lbs.          Senior

UTEP                          Robby  Felix                6'3"      295 lbs.          Senior

Washington                  Juan    Garcia              6'3"      315 lbs.          Senior

Washington State          Kenny  Alfred              6'2"      310 lbs.      RS Junior

West Virginia                Mike    Dent                6'3"      300 lbs.          Senior

While more than a dozen All-America football teams are selected annually, the Rimington Trophy committee uses these four prestigious teams to determine a winner:

American Football Coaches Association

Walter Camp Foundation

The Sporting News

Football Writers Association of America

Because the selectors of these four All-America teams can place Centers in a "mix" of offensive linemen that includes guards and tackles, their 11-man first teams can often have two Centers.  Our policy is to count all players that play primarily the Center position for their respective teams as Centers, even though they may be listed as guards or tackles on the four All-American teams.

The Center with the most first team votes will be determined the winner.  If there is a tie with first team votes, then the Center with the most second team votes will win.  If there is still a tie, the winner will be determined by the Rimington Trophy committee.

The winner will be honored at the Rimington Trophy Presentation banquet at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 17, 2009.

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About the Rimington Trophy

The nine-year old trophy is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation.  Past recipients include Nebraska's Dominic Raiola, Ohio State's LeCharles Bentley, Miami's Brett Romberg, Virginia Tech's Jake Grove, co-winners Michigan's David Baas and LSU's Ben Wilkerson, Minnesota's Greg Eslinger, West Virginia's Dan Mozes and Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs.  Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $1.3 million for the award's benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation that to date has raised over $65 million for CF research.

Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first team All-America Center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.

The Rimington Trophy is a fully accredited member of the National College Football Awards Association.

[Bull Martin]

I met his mother and step-father on the flight home from the Rutgers game last year.  Super nice people. 

Good luck to him this year.

[Jihme]

does USF get a copy of the trophy for our case too?  (this goes for any player-award)