DALLAS (FWAA) Florida State, USC, Stanford and Tennessee combined to put 13 players on the 2013 Outland Trophy Watch List, announced today by the Football Writers Association of America.
One lone, but important member of the FWAAs 2012 All-America Team – Texas A&M senior offensive tackle Jake Matthews – also appears among 75 players on the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the best interior lineman in college football.
A year ago, Matthews was on the same Aggie offensive line that included 2012 Outland Trophy winner Luke Joeckel, the No. 2 pick overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, now prepping to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Joeckel, also an offensive tackle, was Texas A&Ms first Outland Trophy finalist.
Florida State and Stanford have never had an Outland winner in the 67-year history of the award. USC has had one winner (Ron Yary, 1967), and Tennessee has had two interior linemen claim the prestigious bronzed trophy (Steve DeLong, 1964 and John Henderson, 2000). The Aggies could have two straight winners after being shut out in the first 66 years of the award, which is the third oldest in major-college football.
The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from three finalists who are part of the FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects the 25-man team and eventually the three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends are not eligible.
The list will be trimmed to six or seven semifinalists on Nov. 20. Five days later three Outland Trophy finalists will be named by the FWAA. The winner of the 68th Outland Trophy, named after the late John Outland, an All-America lineman at Penn at the turn of the 20th century, will be announced on ESPN on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 12 from Disneys Boardwalk in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The Outland Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee, will be held on Jan. 9, 2014 in Omaha, Neb. This year, North Carolina State center Jim Ritcher, the 1979 Outland Trophy winner, will be honored and presented an Outland Trophy, which was not given in the era in which he won the award.
The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization
founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,200 men and women who cover college football.
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 and its annual All-America team. For
more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson
at tiger@fwaa.com or 972-713-6198.
The Outland Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about our story.
The members of the NCFAA are unveiling their preseason watch lists over a 12-day period this month. Fifteen of the associations 21 awards select a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award·s preseason candidates. Following is the complete 2013 preseason watch list calendar:
July 8: Maxwell Award/Bednarik Award
July 9: Mackey Award/Riminigton Trophy
July 10: Lou Groza Award/Ray Guy Award
July 11: Bronko Nagurski Trophy/Outland Trophy
July 12: Jim Thorpe Award
July 15: Butkus Award/Rotary Lombardi Award
July 16: Biletnikoff Award
July 17: Davey OBrien Award
July 18: Doak Walker Award
July 19: Walter Camp Award
Related links:
All-time Outland Trophy winners
· Outland Trophy official site (outlandtrophy.com)