Michigan Football Center Drake Nugent Will Be In The Running For A Prominent Award

Michigan football has had big-time success with centers in the past years, and the Wolverines appear to have another great one in 2023.

It was announced earlier in the week that Michigan center Drake Nugent was named to the Outland Trophy watch list for the best interior lineman. 

Now the Stanford transfer has also been named to the Rimington Award watch list for the most outstanding center in college football. 

Michigan has had plenty of success with centers throughout the years. The Wolverines have had three Rimington Award winners since 2000: David Baas (2004), David Molk (2011), and Olu Oluwatimi (2022). 

Here is more information about Nugent, via the press release:

• Readying for his first season as a Wolverine after earning four letters at Stanford, where he was a captain

• Two-time All-Pac 12 honorable mention

• Charged with just four sacks across 2021 and 2022 seasons combined (993 pass-blocking snaps)

• Watch List member of both Outland and Rimington Trophies (2022)

• 27 career games played with 24 starts at center

Nugent has the chance to become the next great Michigan center. He sure has the capability of doing so. 

Digging into the analytics by looking at Pro Football Focus, Nugent graded out as the seventh-best center last season with an 80.5 grade. To put that in perspective, Oluwatimi was No. 8 with an 80.4. 

Nugent was even better as a run blocker. Per PFF, Nugent was the third-ranked center when blocking during run plays. He graded out with an 80.5 grade. He also had a 77.2 pass-blocking grade. 

He graded out better than Oluwatimi in all three categories last season, but Stanford was a really bad football team, so Nugent didn't get much recognition. Now that he plays for the Wolverines, he will be under the spotlight and has a chance to really shine.