MOBILE, Ala. – Joseph Scelfo, the University of South Alabama football program's center on the offensive line, was named to the 2015 Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List on Wednesday.
The list includes 63 individuals, with Scelfo one of just three from the Sun Belt Conference who was recognized by the Rimington Trophy committee. The award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football, is named after Dave Rimington, a consensus first-team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and '82.
Scelfo — who has also been named preseason first-team all-Sun Belt by Phil Steele Publications as well as preseason second-team all-SBC by Athlon Sports this summer — is entering his second season as the Jaguars' starter at center. Last year he was one of two USA lineman to start all 13 contests as the program competed in its first-ever NCAA postseason bowl contest after receiving an invite to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.
The 6-foot-1, 295-pound junior from Bogart, Ga., graded out at 80 percent or better following six outings, earning the highest mark on the squad five times, while recording 20 knockdown total blocks. Scelfo received a season-best 88 percent mark after the Jags' October victory over Troy — one of two games he earned the coaches' offensive line award — while earning a mark of 87 percent against Bowling Green at the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl. He paced the squad in both its match-ups against Southeastern Conference opponents, posting an 83 percent grade at South Carolina as well as a mark of 81 percent against eventual No. 1 Mississippi State, and Scelfo was also credited with an 80 percent grade in the win over Texas State that made the team eligible to participate in a postseason bowl game.
He collected 15 knocks on 57 snaps in 2013 as well after sitting out the previous campaign as a redshirt.
Finalists for the award will be announced on Dec. 7, with the winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 16, 2016.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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