HOUSTON – For the second time in two weeks, University of South Alabama center Joseph Scelfo has been named to a football preseason watch list.

Last week the rising junior was selected to the Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List, which honors the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I-A college football at the end of the year, while on Tuesday it was announced he is on the Watch List for the 2015 Rotary Lombardi Award.

Eligibility for the Rotary Lombardi Award is limited to down linemen — end-to-end on either offense or defense — who set up no farther than 10 yards to the left or right of the ball, or linebackers who set up no farther than five yards deep from the line of scrimmage.  The 46th Rotary Lombardi Award will be held on Dec. 9 at the Bayou Music Center in Houston.

Scelfo is coming off a season in which he was one of two Jaguar offensive linemen to both start all 13 contests and earn the coaches' weekly award on more than one occasion.  The 6-foot-1, 295-pound Bogart, Ga., resident graded out at 80 percent or higher on six occasions last fall — earning the highest mark on the squad in five contests — while recording a total of 20 pancake blocks as USA became the fastest NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision school to play in a postseason bowl game after receiving an invitation to the inaugural Raycom Media Camellia Bowl.

Highlights for Scelfo from 2014, his first season as a starter, included a season-high 88 percent grade in the Jags' win over rival Troy as well as an 87 percent mark against Bowling Green in USA's bowl game.  He also graded out at better than 80 percent against both South Carolina and Mississippi State — recording scores of 83 and 81 percent, respectively, against the two Southeastern Conference opponents — to lead the team in both outings.

In addition to being named to the two award watch lists, Scelfo has been selected preseason first-team all-Sun Belt Conference by Phil Steele Publications and preseason second-team all-league by Athlon Sports this offseason.

Scelfo and the Jaguars will open up the 2015 campaign at home against Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Sept. 5, with kickoff at Ladd-Peebles Stadium set for 5 p.m. (CDT).

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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