NEW YORK, NY -- The Rimington Trophy Committee announces its 2021 Preseason Watch List, which includes the following centers in Division I football, given annually to the nation's top center. Representing the MAC are seniors Bryce Harris (Toledo) and Brayden Patton (Northern Illinois).  

Harris was a first-team All-MAC selection in 2020 and a second-team  All-MAC pick in 2018. He missed the entire 2019 season due to injury. He has appeared in 44 games as an offensive lineman at center and guard, starting 39. In 2020, he was part of an offense that ranked third in the MAC in total offense (494.0) and first in passing offense (325.8).

Harris was named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy by the National Football Foundation in 2020. The award has recognized the best football scholar-athlete in the nation every year since 1990. A three-time Academic All-MAC honoree, Harris graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology with a 3.509 grade point average in 2019. He currently holds a 3.765 GPA in the College of Graduate Studies, where he is studying school counseling.

Patton, a native of Elletsville, Ind., has started 18 consecutive games for NIU, including the last nine at center. One of six NIU offensive players to start all six games in 2020, the Huskie senior moved from guard to center in the final three games of the 2019 season. The Edgewood High School product made his first career start at center in a 31-28 at Toledo on Nov. 13, 2019. He garnered third-team All-MAC honors a year ago and a member of the Academic All-MAC Football Team.

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.