Per The National Football Foundation Press Release…..
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 30, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 30th Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.
“These 185 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell Trophy® winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. “For more than 60 years, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program has showcased more than 800 college football players who have been successful on the football field, in the classroom and as leaders in the community. And we are excited to celebrate the 30th year of the William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, which honors the best of the best. This year’s semifinalists further illustrate the power of our great sport in developing the next generation of influential leaders.”
Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, former chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF’s Gold Medal, the Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient’s grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000. This year’s postgraduate scholarships will push the program’s all-time distribution to more than $11.7 million.
Last week, Mazda announced a three-year partnership to sponsor the Campbell Trophy®, kicking off the automaker’s Power of Potential Platform.
“The NFF would like to personally congratulate each of the nominees as well as their schools and coaches on their tremendous accomplishments,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “We are extremely proud to highlight each semifinalist’s achievements, showcasing their ability to balance academics and athletics at the highest level. The NFF Awards Committee will have an incredibly difficult task in selecting the finalists from this outstanding group of candidates.”
- 30th year of the William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda
- 61st year of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by Fidelity Investments
- 185 Nominations
- 3.69 Average GPA
- 8 Nominees with a perfect 4.0 GPA
- 59 Nominees with a 3.8 GPA or better
- 81 Nominees with a 3.7 GPA or Better
- 24 Academic All-America Selections
- 108 Captains
- 87 All-Conference Picks
- 18 All-Americans
- 71 Nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
- 39 Nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
- 19 Nominees from NCAA Division II
- 49 Nominees from NCAA Division III
- 7 Nominees from the NAIA
- 89 Offensive Players
- 76 Defensive Players
- 20 Special Teams Players
Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by Fidelity Investments celebrate their 61st year in 2019. The awards were the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on both a player’s academic and athletic accomplishments, and the NFF has recognized 854 outstanding individuals since their inception. The Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda was first awarded in 1990 and is celebrating its 30th year in 2019. The trophy adds to the program’s prestige, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and six first-round NFL draft picks.
Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of workplace savings plans in higher education, serves as the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Since 2013, the Campbell Trophy® has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.
The past recipients of the Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, include:
1990 – Chris Howard (Air Force)
1991 – Brad Culpepper (Florida)
1992 – Jim Hansen (Colorado)
1993 – Thomas Burns (Virginia)
1994 – Rob Zatechka (Nebraska)
1995 – Bobby Hoying (Ohio State)
1996 – Danny Wuerffel (Florida)
1997 – Peyton Manning (Tennessee)
1998 – Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia)
1999 – Chad Pennington (Marshall)
2000 – Kyle Vanden Bosch (Nebraska)
2001 – Joaquin Gonzalez (Miami [FL])
2002 – Brandon Roberts (Washington U. in St. Louis [MO])
2003 – Craig Krenzel (Ohio State)
2004 – Michael Munoz (Tennessee)
2005 – Rudy Niswanger (LSU)
2006 – Brian Leonard (Rutgers)
2007 – Dallas Griffin (Texas)
2008 – Alex Mack (California)
2009 – Tim Tebow (Florida);
2010 – Sam Acho (Texas)
2011 – Andrew Rodriguez (Army West Point)
2012 – Barrett Jones (Alabama)
2013 – John Urschel (Penn State)
2014 – David Helton (Duke)
2015 – Ty Darlington (Oklahoma)
2016 – Zach Terrell (Western Michigan)
2017 – Micah Kiser (Virginia)
2018 – Christian Wilkins (Clemson)
2019 SEMIFINALISTS FOR THE
WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY® PRESENTED BY MAZDA
SCHOOL | NAME |
Air Force | Isaiah Sanders |
Akron | John Lako |
Appalachian State | Jordan Fehr |
Arizona | Cody Creason |
Arizona State | Kyle Williams |
Arkansas State | Cody Grace |
Auburn | Jack Driscoll |
Ball State | Riley Miller |
Baylor | Marques Jones |
Boise State | Matt Locher |
Brigham Young | Talon Shumway |
Buffalo | Matt Otwinowski |
California | Steven Coutts |
Central Michigan | Clay Walderzak |
Charlotte | Tyriq Harris |
Clemson | Sean Pollard |
Colorado | Lucas Cooper |
Duke | Quentin Harris |
East Carolina | Alex Turner |
Eastern Michigan | Brody Hoying |
Florida International | James Morgan |
Georgia | Rodrigo Blankenship |
Georgia Southern | Tyler Bass |
Georgia State | Terry Thomas |
Illinois | Dre Brown |
Indiana | Nick Westbrook |
Iowa State | Ray Lima |
Kansas State | Adam Holtorf |
LSU | Blake Ferguson |
Memphis | Dustin Woodard |
Miami (FL) | K.J. Osborn |
Michigan | Jordan Glasgow |
Michigan State | Cole Chewins |
Navy | Travis Brannan |
Nevada | Quinton Conaway |
New Mexico State | Dylan Brown |
Northern Illinois | Jordan Steckler |
Northwestern | Jared Thomas |
Notre Dame | Christopher Finke |
Ohio State | Jordan Fuller |
Oklahoma | Connor McGinnis |
Oklahoma State | Matt Ammendola |
Oregon | Justin Herbert |
Oregon State | Andrzej Hughes-Murray |
Penn State | Blake Gillikin |
Pittsburgh | Jim Medure |
Purdue | Markus Bailey |
Rice | Myles Adams |
San Diego State | Parker Houston |
San Jose State | Josh Love |
South Carolina | Jake Bentley |
South Florida | Kirk Livingstone |
Stanford | Casey Toohill |
Temple | Zack Mesday |
Texas | Zach Shackelford |
Texas A&M | Braden Mann |
Texas at San Antonio | Andrew Martel |
Texas State | Hutch White |
Texas Tech | Travis Bruffy |
Toledo | Reggie Gilliam |
Tulane | Christian Montano |
UCF | Jordan Johnson |
Utah State | Jacoby Wildman |
Vanderbilt | Cody Markel |
Virginia | Jordan Mack |
Wake Forest | Cade Carney |
Washington | Nick Harris |
Washington State | Gage Gubrud |
West Virginia | Reese Donahue |
Western Michigan | Jon Wassink |
Wyoming | Cooper Rothe |
SCHOOL | NAME |
Austin Peay State | Pat Walker |
Brown | Nicholas Allsop |
Bucknell | Alex Pechin |
Butler | Brad Sznajder |
Campbell | Michael Wooten |
Colgate | Chris Puzzi |
Columbia | Arman Samouk |
Cornell | Jelani Taylor |
Dartmouth | Jack Traynor |
Davidson | Ethan Steinbacher |
Dayton | Tim Simon |
Eastern Illinois | Joe Caputo |
Eastern Kentucky | Samuel Hayworth |
Eastern Washington | Spencer Blackburn |
Florida A&M | Elijah Richardson |
Harvard | Brogan McPartland |
Holy Cross | Derek Mountain |
Illinois State | Ty DeForest |
Jackson State | CJ Anderson |
Marist | Andrew McElroy |
Mercer | Dorian Kithcart |
Montana | Dante Olson |
Montana State | Jered Padmos |
Morgan State | Ian McBorrough |
Nicholls State | Dontrell Taylor |
Norfolk State | Ricky Thomas Jr. |
North Dakota State | Ben Ellefson |
Northwestern State | Chris Zirkle |
Pennsylvania | Greg Begnoche |
Princeton | Andrew Griffin |
Sacramento State | Nick Bianco |
Sacred Heart | Jordan Meachum |
South Dakota State | Christian Rozeboom |
Stetson | Gaven DeFilippo |
Tennessee Tech | Seth Huner |
Villanova | Simon Bingelis |
William & Mary | Nate Atkins |
Yale | Sterling Strother |
Youngstown State | Kyle Hegedus |
SCHOOL | NAME |
Ashland (OH) | Clay Shreve |
Bentley (MA) | Ryan McCarthy |
Colorado State-Pueblo | Dan List |
East Stroudsburg (PA) | Levi Murphy |
Ferris State (MI) | Travis Russell |
Frostburg State (MD) | Vincent Persichetti |
Harding (AR) | Taylor Streeter |
Minnesota State Mankato | Alex Goettl |
Newberry (SC) | Tyler Lindsay |
Northern State (SD) | Zach Mohs |
Northwest Missouri State | Ryan Spelhaug |
Oklahoma Baptist | Hayden Ashley |
Ouachita Baptist (AR) | Brockton Brown |
Sioux Falls (SD) | Gabriel Watson |
Southern Arkansas | SirCharles Perkins |
Stonehill (MA) | Matthew Haite |
Tarleton State (TX) | Brant Bailey |
Wayne State (MI) | Ryan Smith |
Wingate (NC) | Connor Baroniunas |
SCHOOL | NAME |
Allegheny (PA) | Kyle McGee |
Amherst (MA) | Henry Atkeson |
Augustana (IL) | Luke Sawicki |
Berry (GA) | Hayden Murphy |
Birmingham-Southern (AL) | Austin Lewter |
Bowdoin (ME) | Joe Gowetski |
Carnegie Mellon (PA) | Michael Lohmeier |
Case Western Reserve (OH) | Isaac Withrow |
Central (IA) | Jon Alberts |
Centre (KY) | Cal Lewellyn |
DePauw (IN) | Connor Perkins |
East Texas Baptist | Brian Baca |
Franklin and Marshall (PA) | Matthew Hamby |
Gallaudet (DC) | Matthew Cracraft |
Grinnell (IA) | David Taylor |
Hardin-Simmons (TX) | Blake Johnston |
Hobart (NY) | Collin Hudgins |
Illinois College | Michael Koos |
Ithaca (NY) | John Hadac |
Johns Hopkins (MD) | David Tammaro |
Juniata (PA) | Austin Montgomery |
Lycoming (PA) | Cody Botts |
Macalester (MN) | Ethan Levin |
MacMurray (IL) | Trevor Schubert |
Maine Maritime | Spencer Baron |
Manchester (IN) | Alex Downard |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | AJ Iversen |
Middlebury (VT) | Marty Williams |
Monmouth (IL) | Clark Gaden |
Moravian (PA) | Sal Pagano |
Mount Union (OH) | Frazier Daniel |
Ohio Wesleyan | Jax Harville |
Redlands (CA) | Blake Roy |
Rhodes (TN) | Monroe McKay |
Saint John’s (MN) | Jackson Erdmann |
Springfield (MA) | Nick Bainter |
St. Thomas (MN) | Elijah Rice |
Susquehanna (PA) | Mitch Carsley |
Thiel (PA) | Matt Crawford |
Tufts (MA) | Frank Roche |
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (NY) | Joe Vitelli |
Washington Univ. in St. Louis (MO) | Johnny Davidson |
Wesleyan (CT) | Will Kearney |
Wheaton (IL) | Corey Kennedy |
Williams (MA) | Jeremy Subjinski |
Wisconsin-Oshkosh | Alex Wipperfurth |
Wisconsin-Stout | Aaron Wisecup |
Wisconsin-Whitewater | Matt Anderson |
Wooster (OH) | Adam Clark |
SCHOOL | NAME |
Dakota State (SD) | John Trout |
Dakota Wesleyan (SD) | Tyler Wagner |
Doane (NE) | Bryce Cooney |
Montana Western | Jason Ferris |
Morningside (IA) | Joel Katzer |
Northwestern (IA) | Sean Powell |
Peru State (NE) | Noah Kasbohm |
About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include Football Matters®, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments, Goodyear, Herff Jones, Mazda, New York Athletic Club, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Sports Business Journal, SportsManias, Under Armour and VICIS. Learn more at footballfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NFFNetwork.
About The National College Football Awards Association
The William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 25 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about the association.
About Mazda North American Operations
Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom. Follow MNAO’s social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.