Washington State center Brian Greene named to Rimington Trophy watch list

Brian Greene, a former walk-on who was elevated to Washington State’s starting center job last season, has been named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, the award given to the top center in college football.

Greene is one of only 40 centers in college football on the Rimington watch list and one of seven in the Pac-12, along with Arizona’s Josh McCauley, Arizona State’s Dohnovan West, California’s Michael Saffell, Oregon’s Alex Forsyth, Oregon State’s Nathan Eldridge and Washington’s Luke Wattenberg.

In 2021, the Rimington Trophy committee partnered with analytics website ProFootballFocus to narrow the watch list down to 40 players.

Replacing longtime center Fred Mauigoa, Greene, who walked on to WSU’s football team in 2018 from Yakima’s Eisenhower High School, started in all four games during the Cougars’ COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. He was named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and recorded a team-best four knockdown blocks in a loss to No. 11 Oregon with another four in WSU’s loss at No. 20 USC.

Greene appeared in 18 games during his redshirt freshman and redshirt sophomore seasons, playing mostly on special teams. He played at center in the second half of WSU’s blowout wins against Colorado and Arizona during the 2018 season.