May 7, 2008
NEW YORK -
University of Maryland senior offensive lineman Edwin Williams was named to the spring watch list for the 2008 Rimington Trophy in an announcement Wednesday by the award's selection committee.
Williams was among 42 players placed on the list, including one of two (also Ryan McMahon, Florida State) in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Rimington Trophy, won last season by Jonathan Luigs of Arkansas, is bestowed upon the best center in college football.
Williams, a native of Washington, D.C., has started the last 26 games for the Terps, tops among offensive players.
Last season, Williams helped open holes for running backs Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore, who combined to rush for nearly 1,600 yards and 25 TDs. He also aided first-year starting QB Chris Turner post the third-best passing efficiency rating in the ACC.
Finalists for the Rimington Trophy will be chosen in November, with the winner announced at December's Home Depot College Football Awards show in Orlando, Fla.
About the Rimington Trophy:
The nine-year old trophy is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Past recipients include Nebraska's Dominic Raiola, Ohio State's LeCharles Bentley, Miami's Brett Romberg, Virginia Tech's Jake Grove, co-winners Michigan's David Baas and LSU's Ben Wilkerson, Minnesota's Greg Eslinger, West Virginia's Dan Mozes and Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $1.3 million for the award's benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation that to date has raised over $65 million for CF research.
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 double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.
