Brian Allen Named to Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State senior center Brian Allen has been named to the Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List. The Rimington Trophy annually recognizes the most outstanding center in college football.
The Spartan center is one of eight players from the Big Ten on the 70-player watch list.
Allen enters his senior season in 2017 having started in 14 consecutive games, the longest active streak on the team. He has played in 38 career contests, including 25 starts (16 at left guard, five at right guard, four at center).
A mainstay on the offensive line his first three seasons, Allen was one of only three players on the team and the only offensive lineman to start every game in 2016. He led the team with twice as many knockdowns as any other lineman and also ranked first in dominators.
Allen earned Spartan Offensive Lineman of the Week accolades twice last season (vs. Furman and Rutgers). In the win at No. 18 Notre Dame, Allen helped the Spartans rack up a season-high 501 yards of total offense, including 260 rushing yards, as he produced a team-best 12.5 knockdowns.
Down the stretch, Allen was instrumental in providing consistency to an injury-riddled offensive line that started seven different combinations. The Spartans rushed for more than 200 yards five times in 2016, including four of the last six games (270 vs. Maryland, 217 vs. Michigan, 277 vs. Rutgers, 207 vs. Ohio State).
The Hinsdale, Illinois, native, who earned second-team All-Big Ten honors from the media for the second straight year in 2016, started three positions on the offensive line as a junior. He started the first three games at left guard, then shifted to center for two games before moving to right guard for five games. The versatile lineman started at left guard the final two contests.
As a sophomore in 2015 on Michigan State's Big Ten Championship team that played in the College Football Playoff, Allen appeared in all 14 games, including 12 starts (10 at left guard; two at center).
A two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Allen is majoring in economics.
The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the Most Outstanding Center in NCAA Division I-A College Football. Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $2.9 million for the cystic fibrosis community. The award is overseen by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis and has raised over $130 million for the fight against cystic fibrosis. Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-American center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.
The winner will be recognized at the Rimington Trophy Presentation at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, January 13, 2018.