PROVO -- With the college football now under way, the Boomer Esiason Foundation has announced BYU's Jason Scukanec as one of the 21 college football players named to the "watch list" for the 2001 Dave Rimington Trophy, which honors the nation's best offensive center.
Scukanec, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound center from Vancouver, Wash., anchors an offensive line that has produced the nation's top scoring offense (61.0 ppg) and leads the country in total offense (666.0 ypg). Scukanec, a three-year letterwinner and All-Mountain West Conference selection has help guide the Cougars to over 323 yards rushing per game and 343 yards passing per contest. His offensive line has allowed just one sack on the season.
The award is named for Dave Rimington, the University of Nebraska's two-time consensus All-America center and the only player to earn two John Outland Trophies. Rimington, also a two-time Academic All-American, and Boomer Esiason, a record-setting passer at the University of Maryland, were teammates on the Cincinnati Bengals from 1984-87.
The Rimington Trophy, established in 2000, is sponsored by the Esiason Foundation. The player honored with the inaugural award was the University of Nebraska's Dominic Raiola, who was drafted by the Detroit Lions earlier this year. The 2001 award will be presented Dec. 15 in Lincoln, Neb.
Other BYU players named to early-season watch lists include, senior linebacker Justin Ena (Butkus and Lombardi), sophomore linebacker Paul Walkenhorst (Butkus) and senior punter Aaron Edmonds (Guy).
The watch list for the 2001 Rimington Trophy includes the top centers playing NCAA Division 1-A football:
Matt Anderson, University of Texas (Sr., 6-4, 305)
Kyle Benn, University of Washington (Sr., 6-3, 300)
LeCharles Bentley, Ohio State University (Sr., 6-2, 300)
Luke Butkus, University of Illinois (Sr., 6-4, 290)
Troy Danhoff, UCLA (Sr., 6-5, 307)
Jeff Faine, University of Notre Dame (Jr., 6-3, 296)
Melvin Fowler, University of Maryland (Sr., 6-3, 292)
Chris Gibson, Oregon State University (Sr., 6-3, 279)
Al Johnson, University of Wisconsin (Jr., 6-4, 291)
Austin King, Northwestern University (Jr., 6-4, 284)
Dan Koppen, Boston College (Jr., 6-3, 293)
Seth McKinney, Texas A&M University (Sr., 6-3, 302)
Josh Melton, University of Arkansas (So., 6-5, 310)
Ben Nowland, Auburn University (Jr., 6-3, 289)
Brian Ottney, Michigan State University (So., 6-6, 305)
Scott Peters, Arizona State University (Sr., 6-4, 293)
A.J. Ricker, University of Missouri (So., 6-4, 285)
Brett Romberg, University of Miami (Jr., 6-3, 290)
Jason Scukanec, Brigham Young University (Sr., 6-2, 282)
Lenny Vandermade, University of Southern California (So., 6-3, 275)
Kyle Young, Clemson University (Sr., 6-3, 285)