More preseason honors

Don’t know if it is a presason honor exactly, but it is recognition and a tool to push college players in the publicity department.

Four BYU players have been added to a watch list for the upcoming college football season.

BYU put out a release with an interesting angle. Here is the copy:

Name the two teams in all of college football that are tied with the most preseason candidates on the watchlist for the prestigious Rotary Lombardi Award.

Here are a few hints: it’s not Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida State, or Miami (Fla.). In fact, the two teams do not come from the SEC, the Big 12, the Pac-10, the Big 10, the ACC or the Big East. (In case you’re still wondering, it’s neither TCU nor Utah.)

Here’s your answer: the University of Hawai’i and BYU are the only two teams in the nation that have four’count them’four preseason candidates for the Rotary Lombardi Award. The award, presented annually by the Rotary Club of Houston, is given to the top, down lineman in the country, including players who line up within five yards of the football.

The winner of the award is selected by the Rotary Lombardi Selection Committee, which is comprised of more than 500 members, including all the past winners and finalists, all Division I head coaches and a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Adding to their growing list of preseason accolades, defensive end Jan Jorgensen, tight end Dennis Pitta and offensive linemen Ray Feinga and Dallas Reynolds have all been named to the preseason watchlist for the Rotary Lombardi Award.