Outland Trophy Watch List Honors 15 SEC Players, Two Razorbacks in the Mix
Written by Ryan Wright
The 70th annual presentation of the Outland Trophy award appears to be a wide open race in 2015. Of the 81 players added to the preseason watch list only Baylor offensive tackle Spencer Drango made it as a semifinalists for the 2014 award before losing to Iowa’s Brandon Scherff.
The watch list includes 15 SEC players, tops among all conferences, followed by 13 Pac-12 players, 11 from the Big 12, 11 from the Big Ten, and 7 from the ACC. Among the early season honorees is Arkansas junior offensive tackle Denver Kirkland and senior right guard Sebastian Tretola.
Tretola worked his way into a starting position with the Hogs as a transfer from Iowa Western C.C in 2014. Now listed at 6’5”, 322 pounds, Tretola initially came to Fayetteville overweight somewhere in the rumored neighborhood of 360-plus pounds. His talent, despite his weight, was too good to leave on the sidelines for head coach Bret Bielema. Tretola started the final 11 games of the season for the Hogs registering 690 snaps in 2014 without allowing a sack.
Kirland is another big guy listed at 6’5”, 340 pounds. In 2014 the Miami, Florida native started all 13 games adding to his consecutive start streak of 21 games entering the 2015 season. Like Tretola, Kirland was a mainstay on the offensive line registering 750 snaps at right guard. When the new season kicks off Kirkland will be lining up at left tackle.
Of the 15 players selected from the SEC Alabama had four, Arkansas had two, Ole Miss with two, South Carolina, LSU, Missouri, Georgia, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M each had one person honored.
On Nov. 19, the three semifinalists will be announced and the winner will be announced on Dec. 10 during the Home Depot College Football Awards at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. The selections are voted upon by the Football Writers Association of America.
The Outland Trophy award highlights the top interior linemen on offense and defense excluding defensive ends and tight ends.
Outland Trophy watch list
G Vadal Alexander, LSU
C Jack Allen, Michigan State
OT Adrian Bellard, Texas State
DT Andrew Billings, Baylor
DT Beau Blackshear, Baylor
C Austin Blythe, Iowa
C Evan Boehm, Missouri
C J.T. Boyd, East Carolina
C Jake Brendel, UCLA
DT Vernon Butler, Louisiana Tech
OT Le’Raven Clark, Texas Tech
DT Kenny Clark, UCLA
DT Maliek Collins, Nebraska
OT Jack Conklin, Michigan State
OT Austin Corbett, Nevada
OT Joe Dahl, Washington State
C Ty Darlington, Oklahoma
DT Sheldon Day, Notre Dame
OT Taylor Decker, Ohio State
OT Spencer Drango, Baylor
G Parker Ehinger, Cincinnati
G Pat Elflein, Ohio State
G Dan Feeney, Indiana
G Joshua Garnett, Stanford
DT Adam Gotsis, Georgia Tech
Darius Hamilton, Rutgers
OT Ike Harris, East Carolina
C Marcus Henry, Boise State
C Joey Hunt, TCU
OT Germain Ifedi, Texas A&M
OT Roderick Johnson, Florida State
DT Gerrand Johnson, ULM
OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
DT Chris Jones, Mississippi State
C Ryan Kelly, Alabama
C Nick Kelly, Arizona State
OT Denver Kirkland, Arkansas
G Alex Kozan, Auburn
G Jimmy Kristof, Western Michigan
DT Luther Maddy, Virginia Tech
DT Corey Marshall, Virginia Tech
C Nick Martin, Notre Dame
OT Ryker Mathews, BYU
OT Kyle Murphy, Stanford
C Andrew Ness, Northern Illinois
DT Thomas Niles, UCF
DT Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss
C Tyler Orlosky, West Virginia
DT Joe Ostman, Central Michigan
DT Davion Pierson, TCU
G Greg Pyke, Georgia
DT Jarran Reed, Alabama
G Andrew Reue, Rice
DT Hassan Ridgeway, Texas
DT A’Shawn Robinson, Alabama
OT Cam Robinson, Alabama
G Isaac Seumalo, Oregon State
OT Brandon Shell, South Carolina
C Matt Skura, Duke
C Matt Sparks, Massachusetts
OT Garrett Stafford, Tulsa
OT Ronnie Stanley, Notre Dame
OT Freddie Tagaloa, Arizona
G Chris Taylor, Tulane
G Wyatt Teller, Virginia Tech
G Sebastian Tretola, Arkansas
C Max Tuerk, USC
DT Travis Tuiloma, BYU
OT Laremy Tunsil, Ole Miss
G Landon Turner, North Carolina
OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, TCU
OT Clint Van Horn, Marshall
DT Eddie Vanderdoes, UCLA
C Dan Voltz, Wisconsin
DT Adolphus Washington, Ohio State
G Christian Westerman, Arizona State
OT Cody Whitehair, Kansas State
DT Antwaun Woods, USC
Photo credit: al.com; No. 73 Sebastian Tretola