LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (FWAA) – Wisconsin offensive tackle Gabe Carimi was named the 65th winner of the Outland Trophy on Thursday night, becoming the second player from Wisconsin to win the award in five seasons.

The winner of the Outland Trophy, which goes to the best interior lineman in college football, was announced during The Home Depot College Football Awards Show from The Walt Disney World Resort.

Carimi, a 6-7, 327-pound senior from Cottage Grove, Wis., has been a stalwart at left tackle for the Badgers (11-1) since taking over for 2006 Outland Trophy winner Joe Thomas at the beginning of the 2007 season. He has started 48 games in four seasons for the Badgers, who finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten championship with Michigan State and Ohio State this season. The Badgers are headed to the Rose Bowl to face TCU.

Carimi

He is one of the main reasons Wisconsin ranks 12th in the country in rushing (247.3 yards per game) and is second nationally in rushing touchdowns with a school-record 46. Wisconsin is fourth in the country in scoring offense (43.3), which is a school record and the Badgers' offensive line has allowed just 12 sacks in 12 games.

Carimi was a part of a dominating offensive line in the Badgers' 83-20 defeat of Indiana when star running back John Clay was out with an injury. Carimi and the rest of the Wisconsin line were co-Badger Offensive Players of Week in a 41-23 victory over Minnesota this season. Carimi is one of just three offensive players to start every game for the Badgers this season and is considered a cinch early-round NFL Draft pick.

"It's such a great honor to be named the Outland Trophy winner," Carimi said. "I was nervous going up there. I was trying to hide behind my facemask. I'm extremely happy, (but) I don't think it has set in yet."

"Ever since I've been around Gabe Carimi, he's a guy that is very focused on success," Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema said earlier this season. "He is kind of a perfectionist. You are always worried – I think early on in Gabe's career – that he was going to be too hard on himself."

Carimi becomes the fourth Big Ten Conference player to win the Outland Trophy in the last eight seasons after Iowa's Robert Gallery (2003), Minnesota's Greg Eslinger (2005) and Thomas (2006).

The FWAA selects the Outland Trophy winner from its 25-man All-America team which will be announced on Saturday afternoon on ABC-TV at 2 p.m. ET. Carimi claimed the Outland Trophy over Florida State guard Rodney Hudson and Colorado offensive tackle Nate Solder, also both seniors.

The Outland Trophy, which has been awarded annually by the FWAA since 1946, is named after the late John Outland, a lineman at Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. The Outland Trophy is the third oldest award in major college football behind the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award.

The official 2009 award presentation to Carimi will be Jan. 13, 2011 in Omaha, Neb., at a banquet sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee. At the banquet, Mike McGee of Duke will receive an Outland Trophy. He was the 1959 winner of the award.

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,200 men and women who cover college football for a living. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com or 972-713-6198.

The Outland Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game's predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients. For more information, visit the association's official Web site, ncfaa.org.

For more information on the Outland Trophy, go to the official website, www.outlandtrophy.com, or contact FWAA executive director Steve Richardson (972-713-6198 or tiger@fwaa.com).

Related links:
• Official site (outlandtrophy.com) | All-time Outland winners
• Video of Outland Trophy presentation (Omaha, Neb.)
• National College Football Awards Association (ncfaa.org)
• collegepressbox.com (for logo/photo downloads)