CONTACT: Steve Mullen (518) 629-8063
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Friday, June 09, 2006
Former Hudson Valley Community College football player Darnell Stapleton has been named to the Dave Rimington Trophy spring watch list of top collegiate centers for the 2006 season.
Stapleton, who graduated from Hudson Valley in 2005, is a senior at Rutgers University. The 6-3, 305-pound Stapleton started all 12 games for the Scarlet Knights last season and was a key member of the offensive line as Rutgers posted a 7-4 mark in the regular season and earned a berth in the Insight Bowl.
Stapleton helped solidify the middle of Rutgers' offensive line, and the Scarlet Knights turned in the best offensive performance in school history with 4,765 total yards.
Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982 during which he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's premiere college interior lineman. The seven year old trophy is presented by Canon, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, USA and Black & Decker. The award is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Esiason created his foundation in 1993 to support research and treatment of cystic fibrosis. Esiason and Rimington were teammates on the Cincinnati Bengals from 1984-87. The winner is selected by determining the consensus All-American center pick from four existing All America Teams including: American Football Coaches Association; Walter Camp Foundation; Sporting News; and Football Writers Association of America.