Syracuse Tackle Sean Hickey Named to Outland Trophy Watch List

The Outland Trophy celebrates the best interior lineman -- offense or defense -- in the country. So it's only fair that today's Outland Trophy Watch List featured Syracuse's own Sean Hickey. The senior offense tackle, who decided to forgo the NFL Draft in favor of playing his senior season for the Orange, already had some pretty high expectations from SU fans. Now, the rest of the country gets to join in on the hype.

As you might recall last season, Hickey was named honorable mention All-ACC, and along with Macky MacPherson, led last year's strong offensive line group. This year, with Macky off to the pros, he's the undisputed leader of a line that will be key to Terrel Hunt's continued development and the success of the Orange's strong running game.

***

Of the 64 players named to the Outland Trophy Watch List, nine were from the ACC -- which tied for second in selections behind the SEC, which had more than twice that at 19.

From here, the list will be trimmed to six or seven semi-finalists on November 20, followed by the list of three finalists released on November 24. The Outland Trophy winner will be named on December 11 on ESPN at the Home Depot College Football Awards. For those curious, no Syracuse player has ever won the Outland Trophy, though Justin Pugh was on the 2012 watch list.

Congrats, Sean! And good luck pursuing this prestigious honor!