Western Kentucky junior center Seth Joest has been named to the 2019 Rimington Trophy Award Watch List, it was announced Friday.

The Versailles native started all 12 games and played all 898 offensive snaps as a sophomore in 2018.

Joest ranked second among C-USA centers with a 16.9 overall cumulative rating by PFF College’s Signature Stats, which included +12.2 for run blocking and +8.1 for pass blocking. He ranked second among C-USA centers with a 73.4 rating by PFF College’s Premium Stats; his 85.6 run block rating and 85.6 pass block rating both led the league.

Joest is one of 80 players to be listed, including one of 11 from Conference USA.

The Rimington Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I college football. Since its inception, the award – celebrating its 20th anniversary – has raised over $4.2 million for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis.

The Hilltoppers open the 2019 season with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff Thursday, Aug.29 vs. Central Arkansas in the debut of new head coach Tyson Helton. WKU returns 16 starters on offense and defense, the third-most nationally, while the team’s 10 returning starters on offense rank as the most in the nation.