Aug. 21, 2008

MEMPHIS, TENN. - University of Memphis senior Philip Beliles has been tabbed as a member of the Rimington Trophy 2008 Fall Watch List as announced by the committee Thursday afternoon. Beliles, who was earlier named to the spring list of candidates, is one of four Conference USA centers who were selected as players to watch heading into the 2008 season.

Joining Beliles from C-USA were Houston junior Carl Barnett, SMU junior Mitch Enright and UTEP senior Robby Felix.

Beliles took over the center position in 2007 and started all 13 games for the Tigers. He worked 92 percent of the team's offensive plays and was instrumental in Memphis ranking 13th nationally in passing and 23rd in total offense. Beliles, A Memphis native who prepped at Christian Brothers High School, was part of a Tiger offensive line that ranked 10th nationally and led Conference USA for the fourth straight year in sack denial, allowing only 14 in 13 games.

While more than a dozen All-America football teams are selected annually, the Rimington Trophy committee uses these four prestigious teams to determine a winner; the American Football Coaches Association, the Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America. The committee counts all players who play primarily the center position for their respective teams even though they may be listed as guards or tackles on the four All-America teams.

The winner will be honored at the Rimington Trophy Presentation banquet at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 17, 2009.

The Boomer Esiason Foundation presents the nine-year-old trophy. Past recipients include Nebraska's Dominic Raiola, Ohio State's LeCharles Bentley, Miami's Brett Romberg, Virginia Tech's Jake Grove, co-winners Michigan's David Baas and LSU's Ben Wilkerson, Minnesota's Greg Eslinger, West Virginia's Dan Mozes and Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $1.3 million for the award's benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation that to date has raised over $65 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.

The Rimington Trophy is a fully accredited member of the National College Football Awards Association.