Benavides Tabbed to Rimington Trophy Watch List
July 10, 2012 | Football
July 10, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Senior center Mario Benavides of the University of Louisville football team has been selected to the Rimington Trophy Watch List, an award given to the nation's top center.
There are 51 student-athletes selected to the watch list. The Southeastern Conference leads the way with 10 candidates. The Big Ten follows with six players, while the ACC, Conference USA, Mountain West Conference, and PAC-12 all check in with five players each.
Benavides, a three-year starter at center for the Cardinals, has been the anchor of the offensive line. A native of Los Fresnos, Texas, Benavides has started 34 of 38 games during his career, missing four contests due to injury. He missed the entire spring due to injury, but is back working out and running with the team during summer conditioning.
This is the third straight season that Benavides has been selected to the prestigious list.
The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A college football. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $2 million. The 12-year old award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $100 million for CF Research. Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982.
