UCF’s Matt Lee Named to 2022 Rimington Trophy Watchlist

ORLANDO - UCF center Matt Lee has been named to the 2022 preseason watchlist for the Rimington Trophy awarded to the top center in college football.
 
Lee, a redshirt junior from Oviedo, Florida (Hagerty High School), boasts 22 career starts and was a 2021 third-team all-American Athletic Conference pick by Pro Football Focus. He helped UCF rank 28th nationally in rushing in 2021, the fourth straight season the Knights have averaged at least 196 yards per game.
 
Athlon Sports made Lee a second-team all-AAC pick on a preseason basis for 2022—and Phil Steele named him to its third team.
 
This year, the trophy committee worked with PFF to narrow its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game based 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.

The 2022 Rimington Trophy Watchlist is as follows:

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 PFF.