UCLA center Scott Quessenberry is on the preseason Rimington Award watch list.
The Rimington Trophy Committee has released its 2017 fall watch list, which includes the following centers in Division I football. In order to create this list, the committee accepted nominations from programs across the country that submitted their current starting centers for consideration. This preseason, at least one player from each conference was nominated, with the MAC leading at ten student-athletes selected and the Big 12 and SEC following with eight each respectively.
EVERY 2017 PRESEASON WATCH LIST
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) and 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. The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, January 13, 2018.
The following is a list of those named to the 2017 fall watch list:
| Aaron Brewer, Texas State | Aaron Mitchell, Fresno State |
| Addison Ooms, California | Alan Knott, South Carolina |
| Alec Eberle, Florida State | Antonyo Woods, Florida Atlantic |
| Asotui Eli, Hawai'i | Austin Davis, Duke |
| Austin Doan, Central Michigan | Austin Golson, Auburn |
| Austin Schlottmann, TCU | Billy Price, Ohio State |
| Blaise Fountain, New Mexico | Brad Lundblade, Oklahoma State |
| Brad North, Northwestern | Bradley Bozeman, Alabama |
| Brendan Moore, Maryland | Brian Allen, Michigan State |
| Bryce Holland, Army | Cam Dillard, North Carolina |
| Cameron Ruff, South Florida | Chandler Miller, Tulsa |
| Coleman Shelton, Washington | Colton Prater, Texas A&M |
| Dakota Tallman, Eastern Michigan | Danny Godlevske, Miami (Ohio) |
| Dennis Edwards, Western Kentucky | Deontae Crumitie, Troy |
| Drew Kyser, Memphis | Erick Wren, Oklahoma |
| Evan Brown, Southern Methodist | Frank Ragnow, Arkansas |
| Gabe Mobley, Georgia State | Garrett McGhin, East Carolina |
| Jake Bennett, Colorado State | Jake Hanson, Oregon |
| Jake Pruehs, Ohio | James Daniels, Iowa |
| James O'Hagan, Buffalo | Jared Weyler, Minnesota |
| Jesse Burkett, Stanford | John Keenoy, Western Michigan |
| Jon Baker, Boston College | Julian Good-Jones, Iowa State |
| Keoni Taylor, San Jose State | LaVonne Gauthney, Akron |
| Levi Brown, Marshall | Luke Shively, Northern Illinois |
| Mason Hampton, Boise State | Matt Hennessy, Temple |
| Mesa Ribordy, Kansas | Michael Deiter, Wisconsin |
| Nathan Eldridge, Arizona | Nathan Puthoff, Kent State |
| Nick Allegretti, Illinois | Nick Clarke, Old Dominion |
| Reid Najvar, Kansas State | Ryan Anderson, Wake Forest |
| Sam Mustipher, Notre Dame | Scott Quessenberry, UCLA |
| Sean Krepsz, Nevada |
Sean Rawlings, Ole Miss |
| Sumner Houston, Oregon State | TJ McCoy, Florida |
| Tanner Thrift, Baylor | Tejan Koroma, BYU |
| Tim McAullife, Bowling Green | Trey Martin, Rice |
| Will Clapp, LSU | Will Noble, Houston |
| Zach Shackleford, Texas |
