NEW YORK – The University of South Alabama's Brian Ankerson has been named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List it was announced on Friday.
The award is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I college football. Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at 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.
Earlier in the week the junior from Theodore, Ala., was the Jaguars' nominee for the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®.
In his first season as a starter last fall, Ankerson was credited with an overall grade of 73 percent and an assignment mark of 87 percent — both best on the team — to go along with 31 pancake blocks. He graded out at 70 percent or higher on nine occasions during the year while earning a grade of 80 percent or higher on assignments in all but one outing.
In the Jags' victory over Alabama State in October, Ankerson received an 87 percent overall mark as well as an assignment grade of 98 percent, his highest figures of the campaign. He also posted assignment grades over 90 percent following games against Memphis, Louisiana, and Texas State, recording three knockdown blocks against both the Ragin' Cajuns and Bobcats.
The Rimington Trophy committee uses the All-America teams determined by the Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America, and the center with the most first team votes will be determined the winner. Because the selectors of these three All-America teams can place centers in a "mix" of offensive linemen that includes guards and tackles, their 11-man first teams can often have two centers. The Rimington Trophy committee's policy is to count all players that play primarily the center position for their respective teams as centers, even though they may be listed as guards or tackles on the All- America teams.
The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Neb. on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020.
Ankerson and the Jaguars will open the 2019 campaign on Saturday, Aug. 31, at Nebraska, with the 11 a.m. (CDT) contest set to be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
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