NEW YORK — BYU center Connor Pay was named Friday to the preseason Rimington Trophy Watchlist for a third consecutive season. The trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I football.
The Rimington Trophy committee worked closely with Pro Football Focus to narrow down its preseason list to the top 40 centers in Division I football, based on nominations from the schools and extensive data from previous seasons provide by PFF.
Pay, a 6-5, 315-pound senior, from Alpine, Utah, was previously named to the 2024 Athlon Sports All-Big 12 Team and to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List, which identifies the nation's top NFL draft eligible players for the coming season.
He was also recently named to the prestigious Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Watch List for the 2024 football season. Since 2005 the Wuerffel Trophy has been presented annually to the college football player who best combines exemplary community service with leadership and achievement on and off the field.
As a junior in 2023, Pay was named preseason All-Big 12 by Athlon Sports and Pro Football Focus. Following the 2022 season he was selected to the College Network All-Independent First Team.
In addition to his success on the field, Pay also excels in the classroom with a 3.84 GPA in entrepreneurial management. He was named CSC Academic All-District in both 2023 and 2024 and was selected to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team following the 2023 season.
The Rimington Trophy is named after Dave Rimington, a two-time Consensus All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982. Rimington also became the only two-time winner of the John Outland Trophy, presented annually to college football’s top interior lineman.
At the conclusion of the 2024 season, the Rimington Trophy Committee will use three prestigious All-America teams to determine a winner—Walter Camp Foundation, Sporting News and Football Writers Association of America. The center with the most first-team All-America votes will be awarded the trophy.
As part of the National College Football Awards Association, which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football, the Rimington Trophy will be unveiled live on Dec. 8, during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
Click HERE for the complete list of candidates.