Olu Oluwatimi announced to Rimington Trophy Watch List

Glad he’s a Wolverine now!

After being a Rimington Trophy finalist last season, Olu Oluwatimi was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List on Friday morning for the 2022 football season.

Oluwatimi has joined the Wolverines as a graduate transfer after playing for the Virginia Cavaliers the past three seasons. The 310-pound center started 32 consecutive games for Virginia and played 910 snaps in 2021 which was the most of an ACC center. Oluwatimi was the first Rimington Trophy finalist in Virginia’s program history, and he was also named a second-team All-American in 2021.

Last season, Iowa’s Tyler Linderbaum won the Rimington Trophy.

The Rimington Trophy worked with PFF to put together a top-40 center watch list for the coveted trophy. In 2021 PFF ranked Oluwatimi the third-best run blocking center when he posted a 90.2 grade.

The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in Division I College Football.

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.

You can see the full watch list below.

CONFERENCE SCHOOL FIRST NAME LAST NAME CLASS
ACC
Clemson Will Putnam SR
Miami Jakai Clark JR
North Carolina State Grant Gibson RS GRAD
Virginia Tech Johnny Jordan GRAD
Wake Forest Michael Jurgens JR
American
Memphis Jacob Likes RS JR
Tulane Sincere Haynesworth JR
UCF Matt Lee RS JR
Big 12
Baylor Jacob Gall GRAD
Iowa State Trevor Downing RS SR
Kansas Mike Novitsky RS SR
Oklahoma State Preston Wilson SR JR
TCU Steve Avila SR
West Virginia Zach Frazier SO
Big Ten
Michigan Olu Oluwatimi GRAD
Minnesota John Michael Schmitz SR
Ohio State Luke Wypler Jr JR
Penn State Juice Scruggs RS SR
Purdue Gus Hartwig RS SO
Wisconsin Joe Tippmann JR
C-USA
UAB Will Rykard RS JR
WKU Rusty Staats RS JR
Independent
BYU Connor Pay RS SO
Notre Dame Jarett Patterson GRAD
MAC
Western Michigan Jacob Gideon RS SO
Mountain West
San Diego State Alama Uluave SR
PAC-12
California Matthew Cindric SR
Oregon Alex Forsyth SR
Oregon State Jake Levengood RS JR
Stanford Drake Nugent SR
USC Brett Neilon RS SR
SEC
Arkansas Ricky Stromberg SR
Auburn Nick Brahms SR
Florida Kingsley Eguakun RS SO
Georgia Sedrick Van Pran RS SO
Mississippi State LaQuinston Sharp RS SR
Texas A&M Bryce Foster SO
Sun Belt
Coastal Carolina Willie Lampkin JR
Georgia State Malik Sumter RS SR
Troy Jake Andrews JR

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Two Michigan offensive linemen listed in top 25

Michigan is stacked at offensive line!

In 2021, the Michigan offensive line won the Joe Moore Award for being the best unit in the country. The Wolverines lost two members from that starting group from this past season when center Andrew Vastardis graduated, and tackle Andrew Steuber got drafted by the New England Patriots.

The scary thing is the 2022 offensive line could be even better than last year after Jim Harbaugh scooped center Olusegun Oluwatimi up from the transfer portal. Oluwatimi, who played at Virginia, was a Rimington Award finalist for being one of the best centers in all of fotball.

When Pro Football Focus ranked its top 25 interior offensive linemen for the 2022 season, it was a no-brainer that Oluwatimi was ranked in the top five. Anthony Treash believes that the former Cavalier is the fifth-best.

Oluwatimi made 32-straight starts while playing at Virginia. In fact, he played 910 snaps in 2021 which were the most snaps of any ACC center. During his fantastic run last year, Oluwaimit was named second-team All-American and first-team All-ACC in 2021.

The other Wolverine that was ranked in the top 25 was Ryan Hayes. Anthony Treash ranked his top 25 offensive tackles and Hayes came in at No. 23.

The rankings may seem a bit low after Hayes had a dominating year at left tackle for the Wolverines. The fifth-year senior started every game for Michigan and was an All-Big Ten selection. Hayes helped block for one of the nation’s best running attacks in football.

The other two PFF did not rank were Zak Zinter and Trevor Keegan from last year’s Joe Moore Award winners.

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Three Wolverines named to Walter Camp preseason All-America team

Congrats guys! #GoBlue

A surefire way to tell the college football season is quickly approaching is when preseason watch lists and the like start to emerge. From polls to individual player awards, different organizations will start to share who they anticipate will be the best teams and players across the sport.

On Monday, the Walter Camp Foundation gave out its preseason designations by announcing its 2022 preseason All-America first and second teams. Three Michigan football players made the list, with one coming on first and two others in the second.

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It should come as no surprise that Michigan place kicker Jake Moody, who won the Lou Groza award for the best kicker in the country, was named to the first team. The fifth-year Wolverine was a first-team All-American according to the Walter Camp Foundation at the culmination of the 2021 season.

Moody is joined on the second-team by Olusegun Oluwatimi — who transferred into Ann Arbor this offseason after being a Rimington Award finalist at Virginia — and Wolverines third-year running back Blake Corum.

What’s somewhat surprising is that those are the only two inclusions from the maize and blue, especially given Michigan’s success last year. Oluwatimi is certainly a standout given his bona fides in Charlottesville, but that none of the three returning offensive linemen — a group that won the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s best offensive line — managed to make either team does raise some questions.

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Jim Harbaugh speaks on addition of Cam Goode to Michigan football

Feel like the UCF transfer is flying under the radar. #GoBlue

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan football has brought in two transfers this offseason — thus far — and while one has gotten a lot of positive press, another is flying under the radar.

Of course, the reason why former Virginia center Olusegun Oluwatimi has received positive fanfare is in large part due to him having been on campus for spring ball, in conjunction with having been a Rimington Award finalist. UCF transfer, defensive tackle Cam Goode, has just arrived on campus, and fans will finally some idea of how he fits into the complexion of a revamped Wolverine defensive line.

On Thursday at the Michigan Football Showcase at Ferris State University, WolverinesWire asked head coach Jim Harbaugh what kind of player Goode is. And while he could go to the tape from his time in Orlando, Harbaugh is looking more forward to what Goode does now that he’s in Ann Arbor.

“We will see, (Friday) is the first day of the summer cycle,” Harbaugh said. “He will have the ability to show what he can do.”

Naturally, Harbaugh sees what Oluwatimi has done thus far as a measuring stick for Goode. If there are any similarities between the two, then the Wolverines will continue trending upwards on the lines on both sides of the ball.

“Oluwatimi — we just call him Olu because it’s hard to say the entire name — Olu is a real great example of someone who was really successful at Virginia and came to Michigan mid-year,” Harbaugh said. “He was all about his business. All about working on the field, in the weight room, and he could’ve been the kind of guy who said I’m the starter — Rimington finalist, etc. He said none of that. He just got to work and he gained the respect of everybody on the football team — coaches and players.

“He had the opportunity to do that and Cam Goode will have the opportunity to do that. We will see what happens.”

Though it would stand to reason that the Wolverines are done in the transfer portal — especially considering the difficulty that admissions present — Harbaugh isn’t ruling out the possibility of one more player, it seems, should the opportunity present itself.

“You don’t say no, you don’t say never say never, you don’t know what’s going to happen. There could be another addition before the season starts.“

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Michigan appears to have landed All-American center via transfer

This is absolutely huge news!

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With Andrew Vastardis exhausting his intercollegiate eligibility, the Wolverines could either rely on second-year center Greg Crippen, third-year Reece Atteberry, or find someone who’s ready to step in and be a difference-maker in the middle of the O-line right away as the aforementioned develop.

Enter Olesegun ‘Victor’ Oluwatimi, the Virginia second-team All-American center who was a Rimington Award finalist and one of the best centers in the country. Oluwatimi opted to transfer from the Cavaliers upon graduating, and was making his decision between Clemson and Michigan.

On Monday, Oluwatimi decided to wear a winged helmet, appearing to have committed to the maize and blue, as he tweeted out an official graphic as designed by the football program, with just the hashtag ‘#GoBlue’. He intended to play in his bowl game, the Fenway Bowl, against SMU on Dec. 29 in Boston, but that game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.

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Oluwatimi started all 12 games for the Cavaliers and has started in 32-straight games. PFF has him graded as the nation’s second-best center in run blocking. This will be Oluwatimi’s second transfer, as he started his career at Air Force, but did not appear in any games for the Falcons.

He originally hails from Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, the same school as Michigan basketball center Hunter Dickinson. Virginia had him listed at 6-foot-3, 310-pounds. His brother, Oluwaseun Oluwatimi played defensive line for the Maryland Terrapins.

Oluwatimi has one year of eligibility remaining at the college level.

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