Purdue Center Gus Hartwig Named to 2022 Rimington Trophy Preseason Watch List
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The preseason watch list for the 2022 Rimington Trophy was announced Friday morning, and Purdue redshirt sophomore center Gus Hartwig was among those recognized for the yearly award.
The Rimington Trophy was named after consensus All-American Dave Rimington and is presented annually to the nation's best center in college football. Last season, Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum was the recipient.
Trust in Gus!@gushartwig53 | @rimingtontrophy pic.twitter.com/kL1Brd3Ril
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) July 22, 2022
During the 2021 season, Hartwig started all 13 games for the Boilermakers on the offensive front. He helped the offense generate time in the pocket, allowing for Purdue's quarterbacks to throw for 355.4 yards per game (second in the Big Ten, fifth nationally).
Quarterback Aidan O'Connell completed 71.8% of his passes a year ago behind Hartwig and the rest of the offensive line, which now stands as a program record. O'Connell finished the season having completed 315 of his 440 attempts for 3,712 yards, 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He was sacked just 18 times in 12 games.
At the end of the season, Hartwig was named an All-Big Ten honorable mention by the league's coaches and was also named an Academic All-Big Ten selection.
In 2020, Hartwig started three of the team's six games during his first year of collegiate football, becoming the first true freshman to start on the Boilermakers' offensive line since the 2008 season.
Hartwig and the Purdue football team are scheduled to start their season on Thursday night, Sept. 1, against Penn State at Ross-Ade Stadium. The game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and will be aired live on FOX.
Below is the full list of players from each conference named to this year's Rimington Trophy watch list during the preseason:
2022 Rimington Trophy Preseason Watch List
ACC
- Will Putnam, Clemson
- Jakai Clark, Miami
- Grant Gibson, North Carolina State
- Johnny Jordan, Virginia Tech
- Michael Jurgens, Wake Forest
AAC
- Jacob Likes, Memphis
- Sincere Haynesworth, Tulane
- Matt Lee, UCF
Big 12
- Jacob Gall, Baylor
- Trevor Downing, Iowa State
- Mike Novitsky, Kansas
- Preston Wilson, Oklahoma State
- Steve Avila, TCU
- Zach Frazier, West Virginia
Big Ten
- Olu Oluwaitimi, Michigan
- John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota
- Luke Wypler Jr., Ohio State
- Juice Scruggs, Penn State
- Gus Hartwig, Purdue
- Joe Tippmann, Wisconsin
C-USA
- Will Rykard, UAB
- Rusty Staats, WKU
Independent
- Connor Pay, BYU
- Jarett Patterson, Notre Dame
MAC
- Jacob Gideon, Western Michigan
Mountain West
- Alama Uluave, San Diego State
PAC-12
- Matthew Cindric, California
- Alex Forsyth, Oregon
- Jake Levengood, Oregon State
- Drake Nugent, Stanford
- Brett Neilon, USC
SEC
- Ricky Stromberg, Arkansas
- Nick Brahms, Auburn
- Kingsley Eguakun, Florida
- Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia
- LaQuinston Sharp, Mississippi
- Bryce Foster, Texas A&M
Sun Belt
- Willie Lampkin, Coastal Carolina
- Malik Sumter, Georgia State
- Jake Andrews, Troy
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.