Ohio State Offensive Lineman On Rimington Trophy Watchlist

Ohio State Buckeyes center Seth McLaughlin has been named to the Rimington Trophy watchlist.

Aug 8, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Seth McLaughlin (56) catches a ball during football practice at the Woody Hayes Athletic Complex. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Rimington Trophy is an award to honor the nations best center during the college football season. On Friday afternoon, the 2024 preseason watchlist for the award was named and the Ohio State Buckeyes had one representative on the list.

Alabama transfer Seth McLaughlin was one of six representatives from the Big Ten Conference on the list of 40 centers. Iowa's Logan Jones, USC's Jonah Monheim, Purdue's Gus Hartwig, Oregon's Iapani Laloulu and Nebraska's Ben Scott were the other five.

Congratulations to our 2024 Rimington Trophy Watchlist! Our committee worked with Pro Football Focus @PFF_College to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers.

Presenting the 2024 watchlist: https:// https://t.co/rj19hwZpyH pic.twitter.com/sVi898a4z8

— Rimington Trophy (@rimingtontrophy) August 9, 2024

This is not the first preseason honor for McLaughlin. The veteran center was also named to the Wuerffel Trophy watchlist just one week prior to making this watchlist for the Rimington Trophy.

McLaughlin has been taking the first team reps at center during fall camp and has been expected to win the starting job for a while. Ohio State's starting center from last year, Carson Hinzman, is part of the competition for the starting right guard job.

McLaughlin's ability to add experience to the Ohio State offensive line could end up being extremely beneficial for the Buckeyes. If he can provide consistent play in the middle of the offensive line, that will help everyone else around him. It could also put him in serious contention to win the Rimington Trophy.

April 13, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes center Seth McLaughlin (56) blocks for quarterback Will Howard (18) after the snap during the first half of the LifeSports spring football game at Ohio Stadium on Saturday. / Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Rimington Trophy committee announced that they worked with Pro Football Focus to narrow down the list of centers to 40. Once the season begins, schools still have the ability to nominate their centers for late additions based on in-season merit.

As the list of representatives narrows down late in the season to semi-finalists and then finalists, it will be interesting to see if McLaughlin remains among the list of top centers for this year's award.