Jansen Named 1998 Rotary Lombardi Award Semifinalist
10/11/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
Houston, Texas -- University of Michigan senior football player Jon Jansen (Clawson, Mich./Clawson HS) has been named one of 12 semifinalists for the 1998 Rotary Lombardi Award, announced Saturday (Oct. 10). The Lombardi Award is given annually to the nation's top college lineman.
Six of the 12 (Cesario, Ferris, Gibson, Jansen, Ruegamer and Stinchcomb) play on offense and six (Chester, DeVries, Katzenmoyer, Kearse, Nguyen and Reager) play on defense.
The Big Ten leads with four players named semifinalists. It is followed by the SEC (3), Big 12 (2), Pac-10 (2) and WAC (1).
Nine of the 12 players are seniors while three are juniors.
Jansen, a two-time Michigan captain and starting right tackle, is in the midst of an outstanding senior season. He enters the Northwestern game having started 42 straight games at right tackle. Jansen is an All-America and Academic All-America candidate this year.
The list of 12 semifinalists will be pared to four finalists on Saturday, Nov. 7. The winner of the 29th annual Lombardi Award, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Houston, will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the awards banquet.
1998 Rotary Lombardi Award Semifinalists
| Name, School | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Hometown |
| Anthony Cesario, Colorado State | OG | 6-6 | 310 | Sr. | Pueblo, Colo. |
| Ed Chester, Florida | DT | 6-4 | 285 | Sr. | Spring Hill, Fla. |
| Jared DeVries, Iowa | DT | 6-4 | 284 | Sr. | Aplington, Iowa |
| Kris Ferris, UCLA | OT | 6-9 | 310 | Jr. | Mission Viejo, Calif. |
| Aaron Gibson, Wisconsin | OT | 6-7 | 371 | Sr. | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| Jon Jansen, Michigan | OT | 6-7 | 299 | Sr. | Clawson, Mich. |
| Andy Katzenmoyer, Ohio State | LB | 6-4 | 265 | Jr. | Westerville, Ohio |
| Jevon Kearse, Florida | LB | 6-5 | 254 | Jr. | Fort Myers, Fla. |
| Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M | LB | 5-11 | 221 | Sr. | Rockport, Texas |
| Montae Reagor, Texas Tech | DE | 6-2 | 254 | Sr. | Waxahachie, Texas |
| Grey Ruegamer, Arizona State | C | 6-5 | 304 | Sr. | Las Vegas, Nev. |
| Matt Stinchcomb, Georgia | OT | 6-6 | 290 | Sr. | Lilbrun, Ga. |
Semifinalist Notes:
Players Mentioned
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