Vershon Lee Named to Rimington Trophy Watch List

University of South Carolina redshirt senior Vershon Lee has been named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List, it was announced today. The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I College Football.

This year, the Trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus (PFF) to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game on how well they execute their given assignment. That play-by-play grading allowed the Trophy committee to create a watchlist based both on nominations from the schools and data provided by PFF. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit.

Lee, a 6-4, 314-pounder from Woodbridge, Va., is a veteran leader on the Gamecocks’ offensive line who returns for his fifth season. A versatile performer, he has appeared in 38 career games, including 27 starts – 16 at left guard, six at right tackle and five at center. He is penciled in as the starting center in 2024.

While more than a dozen All-America teams are selected annually, the Rimington Trophy committee uses these three prestigious teams to determine a winner:

· Walter Camp Foundation (WCF)
· Sporting News (SN)
· Football Writers Association of America (FWAA)

Because the selectors of these three All-America teams can place centers in a “mix” of offensive linemen that includes guards and tackles, their 11-man first teams can often have two centers. The Rimington Trophy committee’s policy is to count all players that play primarily the center position for their respective teams as centers, even though they may be listed as guards or tackles on the All-America teams.

The center with the most first team votes will be determined the winner. If there is a tie with first team votes, then the center with the most second team votes will win. If there is still a tie, the winner will be determined by a majority vote from the Rimington Trophy Committee, provided with data from Pro Football Focus.

Dave Rimington, the award’s namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy’s only two-time winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman. For more on the Rimington Trophy, visitwww.rimingtontrophy.com