Ben Burkett is one 17 multiple-time members of the Rimington Trophy watch list.Ben Burkett is one 17 multiple-time members of the Rimington Trophy watch list.

Ben Burkett on Rimington Trophy Watch List for Second-Straight Year

May 25, 2010

Phil Steele 2010 Preseason All-Big Ten Teams (PDF Format) Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Junior center Ben Burkett (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) is one of 37 players named to the spring watch list for the 2010 Rimington Trophy. The award honors the nation's top center.

Burkett, who has started all 26 games Northwestern has played in the last two seasons, is one of 17 players returning from the 2009 Rimington watch list. He is one of three Big Ten centers to make the cut.

Burkett's play helped helped Northwestern lead the Big Ten in passing offense (286.5 yards per game), and rank 13th nationally in 2009. NU averaged more than 400 yards in total offense for the fourth time in the past six years.

The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in the NCAA's FBS Division. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $1.8 million for its benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The eleven-year old award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $80 million for CF Research.

Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.

WILDCATS HONORED BY PRESEASON PUBLICATIONS

It's time for preseason publications to name their All-Big Ten teams heading into the 2010 season. We'll aggregate those honors in the space below.

PHIL STEELE

Senior Stefan Demos earned first-team preseason All-Big Ten place-kicker honors from Phil Steele to headline a group of nine Wildcats named to one of the publication's four teams.

Offensively, superback Drake Dunsmore (second team), offensive tackle Al Netter (third team) and center Ben Burkett (fourth team) earned inclusion. On defense, linebacker Quentin Davie (second team), cornerback Jordan Mabin (third team), safety David Arnold (third team), defensive end Vince Browne (fourth team) and linebacker Nate Williams (fourth team) all were chosen.

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