Pair of Buckeyes land on preseason watch list for Lombardi Award

COLUMBUS — Ohio State hasn’t had a Rotary Lombardi Award winner in 20 years. Two Buckeyes stars are on the preseason watch list for it, aiming to become the first Buckeyes player to win it in two decades.

Buckeyes tight end Max Klare and linebacker Sonny Styles are both on the preseason watch list for the Lombardi Award, which was released Tuesday afternoon.

The Lombardi Award is given annually to the player “who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL’s legendary coach Vince Lombardi.” A broad category, yes, but it’s an important award for college football. The honor used to go to a lineman or linebacker, but it was expanded in 2017 to include all positions.

offensive lineman Jim Stillwagon (1970), offensive lineman John Hicks (1973), linebacker Chris Spielman (1987), offensive tackle Orlando Pace (1995 and 1996) and linebacker A.J. Hawk (2005). Pace is the only player to ever win the award twice.

Klare is already known as one of the top tight ends in college football entering this season thanks to two years of production at Purdue. In 18 games as a Boilermakers star pass-catcher, including 12 starts, Klare caught 73 passes for 881 yards and four touchdowns. He was recently named to the preseason watch list for the Mackey Award, which is handed out to the country’s top tight end every year.

Styles, meanwhile, has made nearly every preseason honor possible as he enters the season with sky-high expectations. He’s one of the top returning linebackers in all of college football this fall and will lead a defense that also features All-American safety Caleb Downs.

Ohio State C Carson Hinzman on Rimington Trophy preseason watch list

Ohio State center Carson Hinzman learned from the Rimington Trophy winner a year ago. Seth McLaughlin won that award despite missing the final six games of the national championship season. Hinzman stepped in for McLaughlin for that title run, and he’s back to lead the Buckeyes offensive line.

So of course, Hinzman, a national champion center and starter of 18 games across two years for the Buckeyes, landed on the preseason watch list for the Rimington Trophy on Friday. He’ll aim to become the second straight Ohio State center to win the award.

Ohio State previously had back-to-back Rimington Trophy winners in 2016 and 2017, when Pat Elflein won it a year before Billy Price took home the honor. Elflein, Price and McLaughlin joined LeCharles Bentley as the four Buckeyes centers to win the honor.

Now Hinzman has a chance to become the fifth with a dominant redshirt junior season at Ohio State.