Six representatives from Conference USA teams have been selected to The Rimington Trophy Preseason Watch List for 2015. The Rimington Trophy is awarded to the nation's top collegiate center and the spring watch list includes the nation's top 52 players at the center position.
Louisiana Tech senior Kirby Wixson enters his second season as a Bulldog after helping them to a C-USA West Division title in 2014. The Pearl, Mississippi, native earned his starting position the third game of the season and held it through the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl win over Illinois.
Junior Michael Selby represents defending C-USA champion Marshall on the watch list. A native of Sandersville, Georgia, Selby started all 14 games last season, recording 787 snaps with 51 knockdowns from his right guard spot. In 2013, he was named to C-USA's All-Freshman team, playing more than 200 snaps as a true freshman.
Middle Tennessee's Josh Chester, out of Warner Robins, Georgia, started all 12 games for the Blue Raiders last season and was second among linemen with 871 snaps played. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound junior helped anchor a line that allowed the Blue Raiders to rush for 209.7 yards a game in 2014 and 243.9 yards in conference play.
North Texas junior Kaydon Kirby has started 25 straight games at center for the Mean Green and is the first NT center to be on the Rimington Watch List since Andy Brewster in 2004. The Flower Mound, Texas, product has been the starting center since redshirting his freshman season in 2012. He was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team after starting all 13 games at center in 2013. Kirby was part of an offensive line that season that allowed only 11 sacks and he helped pave the way for a record breaking offensive season with 5,336 total offense in 2013.
UTEP's Eric Lee is the other C-USA senior on the list and started all 12 games at the center position, playing on an offensive line unit that has only surrendered 11 sacks in 12 games. Last season, the Miners ranked third in C-USA in rushing offense, averaging 212.7 yards per game, while scoring 27 rushing touchdowns. Lee hails from Riverside, California.
WKU redshirt junior Max Halpin started three games at center before injury shortened his 2014 campaign. Despite playing in just three games, the Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, native helped WKU produce two of the top three single-game yardage performances in school history. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, Halpin played in all 12 games and started seven after entering the season as WKU's No. 2 option. Behind a starting Halpin, WKU went 6-1 in 2013 as he anchored an offensive line that helped former All-American running back Antonio Andrews set a WKU single-season record for rushing yards (1,730).
The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A College Football. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $2.6 million for the cystic fibrosis community. The 15-year old award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $115 million for CF Research.
Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the only double winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation's finest college interior lineman.
The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday, January 16, 2016. For more on the Rimington Trophy and a list of past recipients, visit www.rimingtontrophy.com.
Louisiana Tech senior Kirby Wixson enters his second season as a Bulldog after helping them to a C-USA West Division title in 2014. The Pearl, Mississippi, native earned his starting position the third game of the season and held it through the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl win over Illinois.
Junior Michael Selby represents defending C-USA champion Marshall on the watch list. A native of Sandersville, Georgia, Selby started all 14 games last season, recording 787 snaps with 51 knockdowns from his right guard spot. In 2013, he was named to C-USA's All-Freshman team, playing more than 200 snaps as a true freshman.
Middle Tennessee's Josh Chester, out of Warner Robins, Georgia, started all 12 games for the Blue Raiders last season and was second among linemen with 871 snaps played. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound junior helped anchor a line that allowed the Blue Raiders to rush for 209.7 yards a game in 2014 and 243.9 yards in conference play.
North Texas junior Kaydon Kirby has started 25 straight games at center for the Mean Green and is the first NT center to be on the Rimington Watch List since Andy Brewster in 2004. The Flower Mound, Texas, product has been the starting center since redshirting his freshman season in 2012. He was named to the C-USA All-Freshman team after starting all 13 games at center in 2013. Kirby was part of an offensive line that season that allowed only 11 sacks and he helped pave the way for a record breaking offensive season with 5,336 total offense in 2013.
UTEP's Eric Lee is the other C-USA senior on the list and started all 12 games at the center position, playing on an offensive line unit that has only surrendered 11 sacks in 12 games. Last season, the Miners ranked third in C-USA in rushing offense, averaging 212.7 yards per game, while scoring 27 rushing touchdowns. Lee hails from Riverside, California.
WKU redshirt junior Max Halpin started three games at center before injury shortened his 2014 campaign. Despite playing in just three games, the Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, native helped WKU produce two of the top three single-game yardage performances in school history. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, Halpin played in all 12 games and started seven after entering the season as WKU's No. 2 option. Behind a starting Halpin, WKU went 6-1 in 2013 as he anchored an offensive line that helped former All-American running back Antonio Andrews set a WKU single-season record for rushing yards (1,730).
The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A College Football. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $2.6 million for the cystic fibrosis community. The 15-year old award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $115 million for CF Research.
Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the only double winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation's finest college interior lineman.
The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday, January 16, 2016. For more on the Rimington Trophy and a list of past recipients, visit www.rimingtontrophy.com.
