BATON ROUGE — LSU offensive guard Will Arnold was named to a watch list for another national award on Thursday as the junior has been tabbed as one of 101 players up for the Lombardi Award, the Rotary Club of Houston announced.
The Lombardi Award is presented annually to the top lineman (offense or defense) in college football. Earlier this summer, Arnold was named to the watch list for the Outland Trophy, which is also presented to the top offensive or defensive lineman in college football.
Arnold, a native of Gloster, Miss., enters his second year as a full-time starter on the LSU offensive line. Arnold earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors in 2005 despite playing in only eight games for the Tigers. Arnold missed LSU’s games against Arkansas and Georgia before returning to the lineup to help the Tigers post a 40-3 win over Miami in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Against Miami, the Tigers rolled up 468 yards of offense, including a season-best 272 rushing yards, in the win over the Hurricanes. Miami entered the Peach Bowl ranked No. 2 in the nation in total defense and were allowing only 11.9 points a contest.
For his efforts in the win over Miami, Arnold was named the to SI.com All-Bowl team.
Arnold enters the 2006 season as one of two returning starters on the offensive line for the Tigers, joining fellow senior Brian Johnson. In two years of action with the Tigers, Arnold has started in 12 games and LSU has a 10-2 mark in those contests, which included a 6-0 record in 2005.
The Tigers open their second season under Les Miles on Sept. 2 when LSU hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.
The following is a look at the LSU players on watch lists for national awards heading into the 2006 season:
Player Pos. Award
Will Arnold OG
Lombardi Award
Outland Trophy
LaRon Landry FS
Nagurski Trophy
Bednarki Trophy
Thorpe Award
Lott Trophy
Ali Highsmith LB
Bednarik Trophy
JaMarcus Russell QB
Maxwell Trophy