Florida offensive lineman named to Rimington Trophy Watch List

The Rimington Trophy Preseason Watch List was announced on Friday and yet another member of the Florida Gators earned a mention on one of many prestigious previews for the coming fall.

Offensive lineman Jake Slaughter, who played in all 12 games in 2023 and started eight games at center, got the call this year after filling in admirably when previous starting center Kingsley Eguakun was sidelined with an injury for most of the season. The then-redshirt sophomore made the most of the opportunity handed to him, ultimately grading out as the No. 14 center in the FBS with an 81.2 PFF grade across 622 total snaps.

Slaughter is the only member of Florida’s returning corps to earn a spot among PFF’s top interior offensive linemen this fall.

“His 81.2 grade was second among Power Five centers to only Jackson Powers-Johnson,” according to PFF. “He also performed well in our GAS metric, which allows him to dominate on zone runs. His 82.4 run-blocking grade on such plays tied for fifth in the Power Five. As a full-time starter in 2024, expect Slaughter to become much more of a household name.”

Rimington Award announcement

“The Rimington Trophy is proud to release its 2024 preseason Watchlist. This year, the Trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus (PFF) to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game 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. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit.”

Full Rimington Award watch list

CONF SCHOOL NAME CLASS

ACC

Boston College Drew Kendall RS JR

Florida State Maurice Smith RS SR

Louisville Pete Nygra RS JR

NC State Zeke Correll GRAD

Virginia Brian Stevens GRAD

Wake Forest Luke Petitbon JR

Stanford Levi Rogers 5th YR SR

Georgia Tech Weston Franklin SR

SMU Justin Osborne GRAD

SEC

Alabama Parker Brailsford RS SO

Florida Jake Slaughter RS JR

Georgia Jared Wilson JR

Oklahoma Branson Hickman RS SR

Cooper Mays SR

Texas Jake Majors SR

Auburn Connor Lew SO

Missouri Connor Tollison JR

Mississippi State Ethan Miner SR

South Carolina Vershon Lee RS SR

BIG12

Cincinnati Gavin Gerhardt RS SR

BYU Connor Pay SR

Oklahoma State Joe Michalski RS SR

Arizona State Leif Fautanu RS SR

BIG10

Iowa Logan Jones SR

USC Jonah Monheim RS SR

Purdue Gus Hartwig SR

Oregon Iapani Laloulu SO

Ohio State Seth McLaughlin GRAD

Nebraska Ben Scott SR

PAC12

Oregon State Van Wells JR

Con-USA

Liberty Jordan White JR

New Mexico State Canaan Yarro RS SR

American

Army Brady Small SO

Navy Brent Self SR

FAU Federico Maranges RS SR

UAB Brady Wilson RS SR

UTSA CJ James RS SR

MAC

Western Michigan Jacob Gideon SR

Sun Belt

Louisiana Landon Burton RS SR

Arkansas State Jacob Bayer SR

Florida’s 2024 season opener

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