Clemson's Blake Miller, Nine ACC Players Land on the 2024 Outland Trophy Watch List

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) announced the preseason watch list for the 2024 Outland Trophy on Tuesday, July 30, recognizing 75 returning standout interior linemen. Nine Atlantic Coast Conference student-athletes were named to the list, representing eight teams.

Created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the FWAA with a financial contribution to initiate the award, the Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football.

Representing the ACC on the offensive side of the ball are center Zeke Correll of NC State, center Weston Franklin of Georgia Tech, offensive guard Michael Gonzalez of Louisville, offensive tackle Blake Miller of Clemson, center Justin Osborne of SMU, offensive tackle Jalen Rivers of Miami, offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo of Boston College and offensive tackle Darius Washington of Florida State.

The lone ACC defensive player named to the watch list was defensive tackle Joshua Farmer of Florida State.

There are 24 offensive tackles on this year’s list with 19 defensive tackles and 18 guards to go with 14 centers, and 57 of the 133 Football Bowl Subdivision schools are represented.

The FWAA will announce the Outland Trophy semifinalists on Nov. 20, and those players will then be paired down to three finalists announced on Nov. 26. The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from those finalists who will be part of the annual FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects a 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 79th winner of the Outland Trophy will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards, live on ESPN on December 12, 2024. The official presentation to the winner will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises and produced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 22, 2025.

Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. For a second year now, the FWAA will announce an Outland Trophy National Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week’s honored player will be added at that time.

ACC Representatives on the Outland Trophy Watch List:

• Ozzy Trapilo, Boston College, Redshirt Senior, OT
• Blake Miller, Clemson, Junior, OT
• Joshua Farmer, Florida State, Redshirt Junior, DT
• Darius Washington, Florida State, Redshirt Senior, OT
• Weston Franklin, Georgia Tech, Senior, C
• Michael Gonzalez, Louisville, Senior, OG
• Jalen Rivers, Miami, Redshirt Junior, OT
• Zeke Correll, NC State, Graduate Student, C
• Justin Osborne, SMU, Graduate Student, C

ACC Football Notes

• The ACC is the Conference of Quarterbacks, with the return of full-time starters Thomas Castellanos at Boston College, Cade Klubnik at Clemson, Grayson Loftis at Duke, Haynes King at Georgia Tech, Preston Stone at SMU, and Kyron Drones at Virginia Tech, and transfers DJ Uiagalelei at Florida State, Tyler Shough at Louisville, Cam Ward at Miami, Grayson McCall at NC State, and Kyle McCord at Syracuse among others.
• ACC had 10 quarterbacks named to the Maxwell Award preseason watch list, no other conference had more.
• ACC has the top-ranked group of quarterback transfers in 2024 by CBS Sports.
• 13 QBs in the league enter the 2024 season with over 20 career touchdown passes and 3,500 career passing yards.
• Eight quarterbacks from ACC schools are projected to start Week 1 in the 2024 NFL season — 25 percent of NFL teams.
• Since 2018, the ACC has had at least one quarterback drafted in the first round in five different drafts — the only conference to do that.
• The ACC’s non-conference schedule continues to be the most challenging in the country.
• 27 games against Power 4 opponents, including Notre Dame, the most of any conference.
• Nine non-conference games against teams ranked in the final 2023 Associated Press Top 25 Poll, the most of any conference.
• 10 non-conference games against teams in ESPN’s 2024 Way-Too-Early Top 25, the most of any conference.
• ACC Features Elite Coaching Leadership
• Six ACC head coaches were named to the 2024 Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List, as announced by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and the Peach Bowl, no other conference had more.
• Two of the three active coaches to win a national title reside in the ACC - Dabo Swinney led Clemson to national titles in 2016 and 2018. North Carolina’s Mack Brown won a national title at Texas in 2005.
• The 2024 ACC Football Championship Game will kick off in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday, Dec. 7, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About the Outland Trophy

The Outland Trophy, celebrating 79 years since its founding, is the third-oldest major college football award. Created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the FWAA with a financial contribution to initiate the award, the Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football ever since Dr. Outland, an All-American at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s, eventually took up practice in Kansas City, Mo. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Outland believed linemen did not get the credit they deserved and wanted an award to recognize them.