Keith Gray Named to Rimington Trophy Watch List

STORRS, Conn. (May 7, 2008) -- University of Connecticut center Keith Gray (Allen, Texas) was one of 42 players named on Wednesday to the Rimington Trophy Watch List. The award is presented annually to the nation's top center.

The list includes two finalists from 2007, as well as the 2007 winner of the Rimington Trophy, Arkansas' Jonathan Luigs. Gray is one of five BIG EAST centers on the list, joining Louisville's Eric Wood, Ryan Blaszcyk of Rutgers, USF's Jake Griffin and Mike Dent of West Virginia. Only the Big 12 (seven) and Pac-10 (six) have more players represented.

Gray started all 13 games at center for the Huskies in 2007, served as a team captain, and helped UConn to its first-ever BIG EAST Championship and a berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. He has started a total of 18 games at center for the Huskies and UConn is 11-7 in those contests.

The nine-year old trophy is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation.  Since its inception, the Rimington Trophy has raised over $1.3 million for the award's benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation that to date has raised over $65 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 double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman. The winner will be honored at the Rimington Trophy Presentation banquet at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 17, 2009.