Outland Trophy Watch List includes Mathews and Tuiloma

DALLAS - Two more players received preseason honors with offensive lineman Ryker Mathews and defensive lineman Travis Tuiloma earning spots on the 2015 Outland Trophy Watch List announced Friday, honoring the nation's top interior lineman.

Mathews, the 6-foot-6, 320-pound American Fork product heads into his senior year with 33 games played. In 2014 he was part of a BYU offensive line that set up the highest-scoring Cougar team at 37.1 points per game since 2001. BYU's average was good for No. 15 nationally.

Tuiloma was also named to the Nagurski Trophy Watch List Friday after accounting for 27 tackles and six tackles for loss in 2014.

Both Mathews and Tuiloma earned 2015 Preseason Phil Steele All-Independent Second Team honors.

The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from three finalists who are a part of the FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects the 26-man first team and eventually the three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends are not eligible.

The 2015 list includes 17 centers, 16 guards, 24 offensive tackles and 25 defensive tackles.

The Southeastern Conference led all conferences with 16 players on the 82-man Outland Trophy Watch List released by the Football Writers Association of America. 

Following the SEC, the Pac-12 checked in with 13 players, the Big Ten and Big 12 with 11 each, and the ACC with eight.   All 10 FBS Conferences are represented on the list as were five players combined from independents Notre Dame and BYU. There is one returning interior lineman from the FWAA’s 2014 All-America team, Baylor’s senior offensive tackle Spencer Drango.  

The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from three finalists who are a part of the FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects the 26-man first team and eventually the three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends are not eligible.

The list will be trimmed to six or seven semifinalists on Nov. 19. Five days later three Outland Trophy finalists will be named by the FWAA. The winner of the 70th Outland Trophy, named after the late John Outland, an All-America lineman at Penn at the turn of the 20th century, will be announced on ESPN on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 10 for the first time from the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

The Outland Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee, will be held on Jan. 14, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska. This year, Maryland’s Randy White, the 1975 Outland Trophy winner, will be honored and presented an Outland Trophy, which was not given in the era in which he won the award.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of 1,400 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at  tigerfwaa@gmail.com.

The Outland Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 22 awards boast more than 700 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.