DALLAS (FWAA) The Football Writers Association of America
has announced the 2006 Outland Trophy Watch List. Fifty-four standout
linemen from around the country have been nominated for consideration in
the preseason.
The
Outland Trophy has been awarded to the best offensive or defensive lineman
in college football since 1946. The winner is selected by the FWAA's All-America
Committee, which selects the association's 25-man team and picks three Outland
Trophy finalists.
The 2005 Outland Trophy announcement will be on Dec. 7 in Orlando, Fla.,
on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show. The Outland Trophy
presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee and
First Data Corporation, is set for Jan. 11, 2007, in Omaha, Neb.
Minnesota center Greg Eslinger won the 2005 Outland Trophy. He was the
third player from Minnesota to win the award after Tom Brown (1960) and
Bobby Bell (1962). He is only the third center to claim major-college football's
third-oldest award.
The Outland Trophy has been awarded annually by the FWAA since 1946.
It is named after the late John Outland, a lineman at Pennsylvania at the
turn of the century.
Nebraska has more Outland Trophy winners than another school. Seven Cornhuskers
have claimed the trophy, with Nebraska center Dave Rimington being the only
player to win it twice (in 1981 and '82).
Additional Outland Trophy candidates may be added during the course of
the season. Tackles, guards and centers are eligible for consideration.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization
founded in 1941, consists of more than 900 men and women across North America
who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists,
broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas
that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday
operations, major awards, a national poll and its annual All-America team.
For more information on the Outland Trophy, go to the official website,
www.outlandtrophy.com,
or contact FWAA executive director Steve Richardson (972-713-6198
or tiger@fwaa.com).