The Center of Excellence Award has been established by the Mark Vincent Pelini Foundation to recognize high school football centers for their outstanding achievements both on and off the field. The COE award provides a scholarship to pursue further education after high school. Recipients are selected from among an accomplished group who have excelled in football at the center position, achieved in academics, and demonstrated leadership.

The Foundation honored two recipients in 2024 with the COE Award,  one in the Mahoning Valley and surrounding areas and a second in the State of Nebraska, which was awarded as the Cole Pensick/Mark Vincent Pelini COE Award to remember not only Mark but also Cole Pensick, Mark’s teammate on the Nebraska Cornhuskers who also played center and who also tragically passed away in a car accident just six months after Mark.