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The Football Writers Association of America announced the preseason watch list for the 2020 Outland Trophy Tuesday, and Minnesota’s Blaise Andries was one of the 85 names on the list.

Tackles, guards and centers are eligible for consideration for the award and this year, Andries is one of 21 offensive guards to be recognized. He is also one of 12 members of the Big Ten Conference on the list.

Andries, who will be a junior in the fall, redshirted in 2017 before starting the next 26 games of his career. The Marshall native brings versatility to the Gophers line as he has started 12 games at right guard, 10 at left guard, two at right tackle and two at left tackle.

In 2019, he helped block for an offense that totaled 5,616 yards (third most in school history), 3,293 passing yards (school record), 294 first downs (second most in school history), 443 points (second most in school history) and a scoring average of 34.1 points per game (third  most in school history)

In 2018, he blocked for a Minnesota offense that averaged 28.9 points per game and one that rushed for 23 touchdowns and threw for 20 touchdowns.

Andries was named All-Big Ten Third Team in 2019 after being named All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2018. He excels in the classroom as well, earning CoSida Academic All-America Second Team honors in 2019. Andries is majoring in Mathematics and is an aspiring actuary.