NEW YORK, N.Y. – Western Michigan’s Jacob Gideon was selected to the 2023 Rimington Trophy Watch List for the second-straight season, as announced by the Rimington Trophy committee on Friday afternoon. 

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.

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.