NEW YORK - Southern Illinois center Bryan Boemer has been awarded the 2011 Rimington Award, given to the top center in the FCS. Boemer is the first Saluki to be honored with the Rimington Award.

Boemer has been named a first-team All-American by the College Sporting News and the American Football Coaches Association, and he earned second-team All-America honors from the Associated Press. He is a three-time All-Conference offensive lineman. In 2011, he posted a 93 percent blocking percentage and didn't allow a sack. He led an offensive line that blocked for seven 200-yard rushing games and averaged 183 yards per game on the ground.

The Rimington Award is given to the top center at every division below the FBS, whose top center earns the Rimington Trophy. Michigan's David Molk was the 2011 FBS recipient of the Rimington Trophy. Matt Webber (Div. II, Abilene Christian), Brett Ekkens (Div. III, Mount Union) and Kyle Pettit (NAIA, Georgetown College) earned the Rimington Award at their respective levels.

Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982, during which time he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.