Young Named Second Runnerup For Rimington Trophy

May 2, 2001

Clemson, SC – Clemson’s Kyle Young has been recognized as the second runner-up for the inaugural Dave Rimington Trophy. The 2000 season award, which honors the best center in college football, went to Nebraska’s Dominic Raiola.

The trophy is named after Dave Rimington, the center for the Nebraska team that lost to Clemson in the 1982 Orange Bowl. Rimington was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Young, who will play the 2001 season as a graduate student, will be a top candidate for the award this coming season.

Ranking among the final three for the Rimington Award is the most recent in a list of accolades given to Young over his Clemson career. He is a two-time first-team Academic All-American. In 2001 he will have a chance to become just the second offensive lineman in college football history to be a three-time first-team Academic All-American.

He will also have a chance to become the second athlete in Clemson history to be named Academic All-American and on the field of competition All-American in the same year twice. Current golf professional Jonathan Byrd is the only athlete in Clemson history to accomplish that double twice.

In 2000, Young set a Tiger record for knockdown blocks in a season by a center with 120. His 21 knockdown blocks against NC State tied a Clemson record. Perhaps the most durable player on the team, he leads the current team in consecutive starts with 29. His 766 snaps in the 2000 season were more than any other Clemson player. Many of the offensive snaps that allowed Woodrow Dantzler to set 16 Clemson records were plays run behind Young.

The Dave Rimington Trophy is sponsored by the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which the former NFL quarterback created in 1993 to support research and treatment for cystic fibrosis – a deadly genetic disease afflicting his 10-year-old son.