Often season-ending awards come as a bit of a surprise, a reward after a season that defied expectations and produced excellent results. Other times, season-ending awards are the final stage of a season-long coronation, when a player enters the season with high expectations and proceeds to live up to every one of those expectations (and perhaps exceed them). I think you know which category Tyler Linderbaum's 2021 season falls into.
A few weeks ago, Tyler Linderbaum was named the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year in the Big Ten. Thursday, Linderbaum won the big Rimington Trophy, the one awarded to the best center in the entire nation.
The Best Center in the Nation
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) December 10, 2021
Tyler Linderbaum is your 2021 Rimington Trophy winner.#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/zRy7hdS3mA
Though Iowa has had some very good centers over the last 20 years (including Bruce Nelson, Austin Blythe, and James Daniels), Linderbaum is the first Iowa player ever to win the Rimington Trophy. He was a finalist for the award a year ago, but lost to Alabama's Landon Dickerson. This year he was the no-brainer winner, triumphing over Boston College's Alec Lindstrom and Virginia's Olusegun Oluwatimi.
LINDY AT WORK @TLinderbaum | @rimingtontrophy#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/X8JqvPe1Xn
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) December 10, 2021
Linderbaum earned the award for his consistently high level of play; he was a rock at the center of Iowa's offensive line all year, routinely bulldozing the defenders across from him, as you can see in the highlights above. He's also expected to be a very early selection in the 2022 NFL Draft if he opts to forgo in his senior season and enter the draft.
FUN FACT: This win also makes Linderbaum the first player to win both the Solon Beef Days Hay Bale Toss competition and the Rimington Trophy in the same year. He even got asked about his Beef Days prowess on ESPN:
Here's Tyler Linderbaum explaining how to be a champion at the Solon Beef Days Hay Bale Toss pic.twitter.com/0gOYOzpyuN
— Go Iowa Awesome (@IowaAwesome) December 10, 2021
All in all, not too bad for a kid from Solon who arrived at Iowa as a defensive tackle and leaves as perhaps the greatest center in the history of Iowa football. Congratulations, Tyler.
