Courtesy of WKU Athletics
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football offensive lineman Quantavious Leslie was included on the preseason watch list for the 2024 Outland Trophy, the Football Writers Association of America announced Tuesday.
The Outland Trophy recognizes standout interior linemen. The watch list released Tuesday includes 75 returning players, with four Conference USA players making the list.
Leslie, who has also been included on the Shrine Bowl 1000 Watchlist this summer, has been a longtime contributor at left guard for the Hilltoppers and enters his fourth year as a starter. In 2023, he started all 12 of the team’s regular-season games, helping the Hilltoppers finish second in Conference USA and tied for ninth nationally in sacks allowed with just one per game.
The 6-foot-3, 317-pound senior from Rome, Georgia, was also included on the Outland Trophy Watch List in 2022 and 2023.
The FWAA will announce the Outland Trophy semifinalists on Nov. 20, and those players will then be paired down to three finalists announced on Nov. 26. The Outland Trophy winner is chosen from those finalists who will be part of the annual FWAA All-America Team. The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the entire membership, selects a 26-man first team and eventually the three Outland finalists. Committee members, then by individual ballot, select the winner. Only interior linemen on offense or defense are eligible for the award; ends are not eligible.
Players may be added or removed from the watch list during the course of the season. For a second year now, the FWAA will announce an Outland Trophy National Player of the Week each Tuesday this season. If not already on the watch list, each week’s honored player will be added at that time.
The award’s 79th winner will be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards, live on ESPN on Dec. 12. The official presentation to the winner will be made at the Outland Trophy Awards Dinner sponsored by Werner Enterprises and produced by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee in Omaha, Nebraska, on Jan. 22, 2025.
The Outland Trophy, celebrating 79 years since its founding, is the third-oldest major college football award. Created in 1946 when Dr. John Outland presented the FWAA with a financial contribution to initiate the award, the Outland Trophy has been given to the best interior lineman in college football ever since Dr. Outland, an All-American at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1890s, eventually took up practice in Kansas City, Missouri. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Outland believed linemen did not get the credit they deserved and wanted an award to recognize them.
WKU is scheduled to kick off the 2024 season with a 6 p.m. CT game at Alabama on Saturday, Aug. 31. The Hilltoppers will host Eastern Kentucky for their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 6 p.m. CT, and will open CUSA play the following week with a 6 p.m. CT game at Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Sept. 14.
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