Sophomore Eric Wood of the University of Louisville football team has
been added to the 2006 Outland Trophy Watch List. A total of fifty-four
standout linemen from around the country have been nominated for
consideration in the preseason.
Wood started 12 games for the Cardinals last season and was a big
suprise on the offensive front.
Wood was a Rivals.com All-American in leading the Cardinals to a 9-3
record. He is also listed as a candidate for the Rimington Award as one
of the nation's top centers.
The Outland Trophy has been awarded to the best offensive or defensive
lineman in college football
since 1946. The winner is selected by the FWAA's All-America
Committee, which selects the association's
25-man team and picks three Outland Trophy finalists.
The 2005 Outland Trophy announcement will be on Dec. 7 in Orlando,
Fla., on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show. The Outland
Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports
Committee and First Data Corporation, is set for Jan. 11, 2007, in
Omaha, Neb.
Minnesota center Greg Eslinger won the 2005 Outland Trophy. He was the
third player from Minnesota to win the award after Tom Brown (1960) and
Bobby Bell (1962). He is only the third center to claim major-college
football's third-oldest award.
The Outland Trophy has been awarded annually by the FWAA since 1946. It
is named after the late John Outland, a lineman at Pennsylvania at the
turn of the century.
Nebraska has more Outland Trophy winners than another school. Seven
Cornhuskers have claimed the trophy, with Nebraska center Dave Rimington
being the only player to win it twice (in 1981 and '82).
Additional Outland Trophy candidates may be added during the course of
the season. Tackles, guards and centers are eligible for consideration.