May 19, 2006
DALLAS, Texas - The Dave Rimington Trophy today released its spring watch list of top collegiate centers for the 2006 season and UCF senior center Cedric Gagne-Marcoux was named to the list. This season marks the seventh year of the Rimington Trophy recognizing the most outstanding center in college football and the first as a Regular Member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA).
The spring watch list consists of 39 of college football's top men in the middle and will be updated once prior to the beginning of the season. Five sophomores, 11 juniors and 23 seniors make up the strong field.
"With only one returning finalist (Dan Mozes, West Virginia) from last season the competition will be wide open which will certainly make for an exciting race. Center is a very difficult position to evaluate and of course play so I wish all of the candidates and their respective teams a successful season", said Dave Rimington.
Gagne-Marcoux was a First-Team all-Conference USA selection on offense and started all 13 games at center in 2005. He graded out as UCF's top lineman and has started all 33 games in his career he has played in. Gagne-Marcoux has taken every snap at center for UCF during those 33 games.
Gagne-Marcoux was also named to the 2006 Sporting News C-USA Preseason Team. He was also tabbed as the 15th-best center in the country by TSN.
The seven-year-old trophy is presented by Canon, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, USA and Black & Decker. The award is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Minnesota's Greg Eslinger, Michigan's David Baas (2004 co-winner), LSU's Ben Wilkerson (2004 co-winner), Virginia Tech's Jake Grove, Miami's Brett Romberg, Ohio State's LeCharles Bentley, and Nebraska's Dominic Raiola are past recipients. Esiason created his foundation in 1993 to support research and treatment of cystic fibrosis. Esiason and Dave Rimington were teammates on the Cincinnati Bengals from 1984-87. Rimington the award's namesake, was a consensus first team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982 during which he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's premiere college interior lineman.
The winner is selected by determining the consensus All-American center pick from four existing All-America Teams including:
* American Football Coaches Association
* Walter Camp Foundation
* The Sporting News
* Football Writers Association of America
The winner will be honored at the awards banquet at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, Nebraska, in January of 2007.