2021 Rimington Award Winners for the Nation’s Top Center for FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA Announced

January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

Monmouth’s AJ Farris and Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Mike Olsen Repeat as Rimington Award Winners.

New York, NY – AJ Farris of Monmouth University (N.J.) and Mike Olsen of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has been named repeat winners of the Rimington Award for 2021. The Rimington award has been given each of the last 19 years to the top centers in the FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA divisions. This year marks the first time there have been repeat winners in multiple divisions and only the fourth and fifth repeat winners in the history of the award.

Matt Armendariz
Colorado School of Mines

Farris of Monmouth University (N.J.) is a repeat winner for the FCS Division Rimington Award. Farris, a senior from Newark, Del. was twice named to the Stats Perform FCS All-America Team and was also named to the HERO Sports All-American team. He earned First Team All-Big South honors last spring and this fall after leading the Hawks offensive line since 2019. Farris was a third team All-American by two separate media outlets after the 2019 season and was a first team preseason All-American for 2020. Monmouth averaged 391.9 yards of total offense per game last season.

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2020 Rimington Award Winners for the Nation’s Top Center for FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA Announced

May 4, 2021September 20, 2021 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

New York, NY – May 2021

The Rimington Award honors the top center in FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA levels not just for the contributions on the field but off the field as well. This year’s selection process veered out of our normal evaluation techniques due to the lack of games played in all divisions. This year’s selection relied heavily on each center’s career prior to the 2020 shortened season.

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2019 Rimington Award Winners for the Nation’s Top Center for FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA Announced

December 17, 2019January 6, 2022 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

New York, NY – Zach Larsen of Southern Utah headlines the 2019 Rimington Award winners for the FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA divisions. This year’s selections mark the 17th time the top center of each respective level has received the award.

Larsen, a senior from Draper, Utah, has been one of the more decorated centers in recent FCS history. He is a three-time All-Big Sky Conference honoree, earning unanimous first team honors this season. In 2018 he was named an All-American by Phil Steele as well as by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. In 2017 he received All-American honors from STATS, Hero Sports and Phil Steele. Additionally, Larsen has been a fulltime starter at center for the Thunderbirds since his freshman year. Zach is the first Thunderbird to ever receive the Rimington Award and the fourth winner from the Big Sky Conference.

Jake Lacina of Augustana University (S.D.) is the DII division winner of the Rimington Award. Lacina, a senior from Saint Paul, Minn., was named first team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and first team All-Conference by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). In his career, Lacina started all 45 games in his career with the Vikings while being elected a team captain this season. He was also a D2football.com preseason All-American before the start of the 2019 season. He is the first center from Augustana and the NSIC to ever receive the Rimington Award.

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2018 Rimington Award Winners for the Nation’s Top Center for FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA Announced

December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

North Dakota State’s Tanner Volson Wins Third Rimington Award in School History

New York, NY – December 2018: Tanner Volson of North Dakota State University headlines the 2018 Rimington Award winners for the FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA divisions. This year’s selections mark the 16th time the top center of each respective level has received the award. Continue reading →

2017 Rimington Award Winners for the Nation’s Top Center for FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA Announced.

December 13, 2017December 11, 2018 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

South Dakota State’s Jacob Ohnesorge Wins First Rimington Award in School History

New York, NY – Jacob Ohnesorge of South Dakota State University headlines the 2017 Rimington Award winners for the FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA divisions. This year’s selections mark the 15th time the top center of each respective level has received the award.

Ohnesorge, a senior from Waunakee, Wis. is a three-time All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honoree, earning first team honors in both his junior and senior seasons. Additionally, Ohnesorge excelled in the classroom being named to the MVFC Academic Honor Roll in 2013, 2014 and 2016. Jacob has started 53 consecutive games which ties a record for the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits and has already graduated with his degree in Mechanical Engineering. After starting all four seasons, Ohnesorge was part of one of the best offenses in SDSU school history this year averaging 38.8 points per game. Ohnesorge is the first Jackrabbit to ever receive the Rimington Award. Continue reading →

Remembering Brad Fossberg, The Rimington Banquet and The Fight Against Cystic Fibrosis.

January 11, 2015 / jasondannelly / Leave a comment

The view I had of Brad every morning for two years.

This Saturday the Rocco Theater will fill up with people who adore sports and are infatuated with college football for the annual Rimington Trophy Presentation.

People much like Brad Fossberg.

They’ll want to listen to Hall of Fame Coach Bobby Bowden speak. They’ll rise and applaud the official honoring of Reese Dismukes of Auburn as the nation’s top center with the Rimington Trophy. The event itself is something I absolutely love attending and I’m certainly not a “banquet” person. The underlying message, the reason for everyone getting together will be to spread awareness about cystic fibrosis and raise funds for finding a cure for the disease.

For the last few years I have helped to select the Rimington Award for the DI-FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA levels of college football. Basically I reach out to experts and scouts at each level of college football, review film and narrow down the candidates before selecting the winners of each division. I was honored to be asked and the selection process is something I take great pride in being a part of every year. Continue reading →