Spelman honored with Rimington Award as best FCS center

Posted on December 14, 2016

By ISU Sports Information

NORMAL – Illinois State senior Mark Spelman added another honor to his résumé Wednesday, as he was announced as the winner of the 2016 FCS Rimington Award. This year marks the 14th time the top center at each respective level of college football has been recognized with the award.

Spelman is the first Redbird to receive the Rimington Award and he joins Akoakoa Kennedy of Midwestern State (DII), Mitch Doraty of Mount Union (DIII) and Brian Gegner of Saint Francis (Ind.) (NAIA) as this year’s honorees. The award winners are selected by Jason Dannelly, coordinator of the Rimington Award and longtime writer of football in non-FBS divisions, as part of the continued tradition of one of college football’s most prestigious awards. Dannelly was the founder of the Victory Sports Network and is a member of the Football Writers Association.

A senior from Brookfield, Wisconsin, Spelman is a three-time All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honoree, earning first-team honors in both his junior and senior seasons. Additionally, Spelman excelled in the classroom, being named to the MVFC All-Academic Team. Spelman was also a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Award, an award recognizing the top academic students in the nation. This season, Spelman was part of an offense that averaged 385.4 total yards per game and as a junior his squad averaged 425.6 total yards per game.

The Rimington Award winners will be recognized at the 2016 Rimington Trophy presentation banquet, which will be held January 14, 2016, at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A College Football and Pat Elfein of Ohio State was announced as this year’s winner of the Rimington Trophy.

Since its inception, the 16-year-old award has raised over $2.75 million for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis, and has raised over $120 million for CF Research. Dave 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 two-time winner as the nation’s finest college interior lineman.

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