Florida football’s redshirt junior center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] earned a mention on the Rimington Trophy Watchlist, the trophy committee announced on Friday.
This year, the committee worked with Pro Football Focus 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 and that play-by-play grading allowed the Trophy committee to create a watchlist based both on nominations from the schools and data provided. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit.
The Jacksonville, Florida, native has never allowed a sack in 40 games played and has only allowed three quarterback hits in 26 straight starts at center, according to PFF.
Florida has produced one winner of the award: Maurkice Pouncey in 2009. Mike Degory was a finalist in 2005.
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.
The trophy will be presented on Jan. 14, 2023, at The Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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