The Watchlist

CONFERENCE	SCHOOL	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	CLASS
ACC
	Boston College	Drew	Kendall	RS JR
	Florida State	Maurice	Smith	RS SR
	Louisville	Pete	Nygra	RS JR
	NC State	Zeke	Correll	GRAD
	Virginia	Brian	Stevens	GRAD
	Wake Forest	Luke	Petitbon	JR
	Stanford	Levi	Rogers	5th YR SR
	Georgia Tech	Weston	Franklin	SR
	SMU	Justin	Osborne	GRAD

SEC
	Alabama	Parker	Brailsford	RS SO
	Florida	Jake	Slaughter	RS JR
	Georgia	Jared	Wilson	JR
	Oklahoma	Branson	Hickman	RS SR
	Tennessee	Cooper	Mays	SR
	Texas	Jake	Majors	SR
	Auburn	Connor	Lew	SO
	Missouri	Connor	Tollison	JR
	Mississippi State	Ethan	Miner	SR
	South Carolina	Vershon	Lee	RS SR

BIG 12
	Cincinnati	Gavin	Gerhardt	RS SR
	BYU	Connor	Pay	SR
	Oklahoma State	Joe	Michalski	RS SR
	Arizona State	Leif	Fautanu	RS SR

BIG 10
	Iowa	Logan	Jones	SR
	USC	Jonah	Monheim	RS SR
	Purdue	Gus	Hartwig	SR
	Oregon	Iapani	Laloulu	SO
	Ohio State	Seth	McLaughlin	GRAD
	Nebraska	Ben	Scott	SR

PAC 12
	Oregon State	Van	Wells	JR

Conference USA
	Liberty	Jordan	White	JR
	New Mexico State	Canaan	Yarro	RS SR

American
	Army	Brady	Small	SO
	Navy	Brent	Self	SR
	FAU	Federico	Maranges	RS SR
	UAB	Brady	Wilson	RS SR
	UTSA	CJ	James	RS SR
	Memphis	Trent	Holler	RS SR

MAC
	Western Michigan	Jacob	Gideon	SR
Sun Belt
	Louisiana	Landon	Burton	RS SR
	Arkansas State	Jacob	Bayer	SR
Mountain West
	Colorado State	Jacob	Gardner	GRAD

The Rimington Trophy Presents its 2024 Watchlist

The Rimington Trophy is proud to release its 2024 preseason Watchlist. This year, the Trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus (PFF) to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game on how well they execute their given assignment. That play-by-play grading allowed the Trophy committee to create a watchlist based both on nominations from the schools and data provided by PFF. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit. While more than a dozen All-America teams are selected annually, the Rimington Trophy committee uses these three prestigious teams to determine a winner:

·      Walter Camp Foundation (WCF)
·      Sporting News (SN)
·      Football Writers Association of America (FWAA)
Because the selectors of these three 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. The Rimington Trophy committee’s 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 All- America 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 a majority vote from the Rimington Trophy Committee, provided with data from Pro Football Focus.

About the Rimington Trophy

The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I College Football. Since its inception, the award has raised over $5 million for the Boomer Esiason Foundation.

Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy’s only two-time winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman. For more on the Rimington Trophy, visit www.rimingtontrophy.com

About the Boomer Esiason Foundation

In 1993, Boomer Esiason’s son, Gunnar, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF). Boomer and his wife Cheryl founded the Boomer Esiason Foundation to raise funds and awareness for the cystic fibrosis community. To date, the Foundation has raised over $175 million and works to provide educational and financial resources to help people living with CF in the here and now.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs, digestive system, and reproductive system of about 40,000 Americans by causing a thick build-up of mucus that leads to blockage, inflammation, and infection.

About Pro Football Focus

Since 2006, PFF has separated themselves from the pack in their ability to provide game-changing data supported through studying every player, on every play, of every game. In 2014, they began to do so for college football. In 2024, PFF’s college analysts, led by Max Chadwick, supported the Rimington Trophy in creating the Watchlist.

About the NCFAA

The Rimington Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit the NCFAA.org or follow on X at @NCFAA.