DALLAS, Texas--North Dakota State University's Rob Hunt is the NCAA I-AA recipient of the Dave Rimington Award, which annually honors the outstanding NCAA I-A college football center and recently recognized four other outstanding centers throughout the ranks of college football.

Hunt joined Kevin Burton of Division II Southeastern Oklahoma State, Matt Bush of Division III Mary Hardin-Baylor (Belton, Texas) and Adam Sherman of NAIA St. Francis (Fort Wayne, Ind.) as 2004 Rimington Trophy award winners. The I-AA, II, III and NAIA winners receive a ring.

Hunt, a 6-foot-4, 290-pounder from Cavalier, N.D., played in the 2005 Hula Bowl Maui All-Star Game on Jan. 22, in War Memorial Stadium. He is currently preparing for the National Football League scouting combine.

A four-year starter, Hunt was selected the 2004 Great West Football Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year by media, and named to the 2004 All-Great West Football Conference first team by coaches and media. Hunt was credited with a team-high 72 "pancake blocks" as a senior. The Bison rushed for 192.4 yards per game last season -- an increase of 33 yards per game over 2003, and averaged 378 yards of total offense.

Hunt completed the 2004 season with a string of 42 consecutive starts, despite wearing a cast on his snapping hand in 2003, and became the NDSU player since All-American center Mike Favor (1985-88) to start each game in their career. Hunt did not allow a sack and only one quarterback hit over the past two seasons.

North Dakota State finished the 2004 season with an 8-3 record under the direction of head coach Craig Bohl. It was NDSU's first year of Division I-AA football. The Bison finished 23rd in The Sports Network's Top 25 poll, 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, and 15th in the Football Gazette's Top 40.

Division 1-A had co-winners, Louisiana State's Ben Wilkerson and Michigan's David Baas. They were presented with their Rimington trophies by Dave Rimington at the annual Rimington Trophy awards banquet in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Jan. 8th.

Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first-team All-America center at Nebraska in 1981 and '82-years in which he became the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's finest college interior lineman.The five-year old trophy (Nebraska's Dominic Raiola, Ohio State's LeCharles Bentley, Miami's Brett Romberg, and Virginia Tech's Jake Grove are past recipients) is presented by Canon USA, Black & Decker and Power Sentry. Since its inception the Rimington Trophy Award has raised over $300,000 for the award's benefactor, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which is hosted by the Boomer Esiason Foundation that to date has raised over $25,000,000 for CF Research.

The Division 1-A honorees are decided by a consensus of All-America teams including the Walter Camp Foundation, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, and the Sporting News.