
IRVING, Texas– The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced the 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments and prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. At the event, one member of the class will be declared in dramatic fashion the winner of the 27th William V. Campbell Trophy and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.
“These 156 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. “It is important for us to showcase their success on the football field, in the classroom and in the community. This year’s semifinalists further illustrate the power of our great sport in developing the next generation of influential leaders.”
“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.”
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 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.
Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program became the first initiative in history to award postgraduate scholarships based on both a player’s academic and athletic accomplishments, and it has recognized 816 outstanding individuals since its inception. The Campbell Trophy, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program’s prestige, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.
RELATED: Ty Darlington of Oklahoma wins William V. Campbell Trophy
In 2011, the NFF and Fidelity Investments launched a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. As part of the initiative, Fidelity became the first presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program. In 2014, Fidelity became the presenting sponsor of the Campbell Trophy. Fidelity also helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with an NFF National Scholar-Athlete. As part of the initiative, the NFF presents each of the faculty representatives with a plaque, and Fidelity donates $5,000 for the academic support services at each school with a total of $380,000 distributed from 2011-15.
The past recipients of the William V. Campbell Trophy include: Air Force’s Chris Howard (1990); Florida’s Brad Culpepper (1991); Colorado’s Jim Hansen (1992); Virginia’s Thomas Burns (1993); Nebraska’s Rob Zatechka(1994); Ohio State’s Bobby Hoying (1995); Florida’s Danny Wuerffel (1996); Tennessee’s Peyton Manning(1997); Georgia’s Matt Stinchcomb (1998); Marshall’s Chad Pennington (1999); Nebraska’s Kyle Vanden Bosch (2000); Miami (Fla.)’s Joaquin Gonzalez (2001); Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)’s Brandon Roberts (2002); Ohio State’s Craig Krenzel (2003); Tennessee’s Michael Munoz (2004); LSU’s Rudy Niswanger(2005); Rutgers’ Brian Leonard (2006); Texas’ Dallas Griffin (2007); California’s Alex Mack (2008); Florida’s Tim Tebow (2009); Texas’ Sam Acho (2010); Army West Point’s Andrew Rodriguez (2011); Alabama’s Barrett Jones(2012); Penn State’s John Urschel (2013); Duke’s David Helton (2014); and Oklahoma’s Ty Darlington (2015).
The candidates for the NCAA are as follows:
FBS | |
Player | School |
Claude Alexander | Air Force |
Matt Haack | Arizona State |
Brooks Ellis | Arkansas |
Jake Swalley | Arkansas State |
Alex Kozan | Auburn |
Sam Brunner | Ball State |
Sean Wale | Boise State |
Taysom Hill | BYU |
Justin Holman | Central Florida |
Cooper Rush | Central Michigan |
Ryan Severson | Colorado |
Justin Wain | Connecticut |
DeVon Edwards | Duke |
Zay Jones | East Carolina |
Cole Gardner | Eastern Michigan |
Johnny Townsend | Florida |
Dillion DeBoer | Florida Atlantic |
Jacob Vasquez | Fresno State |
Bobby Baker | Georgia State |
Tyler McCloskey | Houston |
Joe Spencer | Illinois |
Jacob Bailey | Indiana |
Kane Seeley | Iowa State |
Will Davis | Kansas State |
Nick Cuthbert | Kent State |
Jon Toth | Kentucky |
Emanuel Byrd | Marshall |
Jake Elliot | Memphis |
Justin Vogel | Miami (Fla.) |
Michael Jocz | Michigan |
Josiah Price | Michigan State |
Nathan Noble | Mississippi |
Richie Brown | Mississippi State |
Sean Culkin | Missouri |
Will Worth | Navy |
Josh Banderas | Nebraska |
Nick Weiler | North Carolina |
Jack Tocho | North Carolina State |
Fred Scott | North Texas |
Drew Hare | Northern Illinois |
Joe Burger | Ohio State |
Tyler Compton | Old Dominion |
Johnny Ragin III | Oregon |
Tyler Yazujian | Penn State |
Dontez Ford | Pittsburgh |
Jake Replogle | Purdue |
Darik Dillard | Rice |
Quanzell Lambert | Rutgers |
Tim Crawley | San Jose State |
Perry Orth | South Carolina |
Cameron Tom | Southern Mississippi |
Dallas Lloyd | Stanford |
Cameron MacPherson | Syracuse |
Brendan McGowan | Temple |
Dylan Wiesman | Tennessee |
Justis Nelson | Texas Tech |
Dane Evans | Tulsa |
Hunter Dimick | Utah |
Travis Seefeldt | Utah State |
Nicholas Conte | Virginia |
Ryan Janvion | Wake Forest |
Tyler Orlosky | West Virginia |
Marcus Ward | Western Kentucky |
Zach Terrell | Western Michigan |
Vince Biegel | Wisconsin |
Chase Roullier | Wyoming |
FCS | |
Player | School |
Trey Salisbury | Austin Paey State |
Dakota Girard | Brown |
Cary Hess | Bucknell |
Jarrett Ozimek | Campbell |
Ben Robinson | Charleston Southern |
Derrick Craine | Chattanooga |
Will Vanvick | The Citadel |
Chris Beaschler | Dayton |
Jalen Randolph | Delaware |
Ernest Mengoni | Delaware State |
Avery Pitt | Eastern Kentucky |
John Gallagher | Elon |
Max Rich | Harvard |
Jake Wieczorek | Holy Cross |
Hayden Stout | Idaho State |
Mark Spelman | Illinois State |
Cameron Gibson | Marist |
Dylan Cole | Missouri State |
Pat DiSalvio | Morehead State |
Toby Omli | Murray State |
Casey DeAndrade | New Hampshire |
Chase Morlock | North Dakota State |
Karter Schult | Northern Iowa |
Nick Demes | Pennsylvania |
Scott Carpenter | Princeton |
Andy Smigiera | Robert Morris |
Lance Geesey | Saint Francis |
Devyn Bryant | San Diego |
Nick Mears | South Dakota State |
Davion Belk | Stetson |
Jake Ryder | Towson |
Fred Payne | Western Carolina |
Nathan Knuffman | Western Illinois |
Hunter Windmuller | William & Mary |
Nick Colvin | Wofford |
Sebastian Little | Yale |
Division II | |
Player | School |
Zach Bernhard | Ashland (Ohio) |
Bryan Hardy | Bentley (Mass.) |
Ryan McCauley | California of Pa. |
Garrett Fugate | Central Missouri |
Richie Rice | Colorado School of Mines |
Tyler Sullivan | Delta State (Miss.) |
Cordell Zalenski | Harding (Ark.) |
Chase Krivashei | Humboldt State (Calif.) |
Kellen Williams | Kutztown (Pa.) |
JC Pawlyk | Malone (Ohio) |
Simon Mathiesen | Northwest Missouri State |
Deron Washington | Pittsburg State (Kan.) |
Anthony Siciliano | Stonehill (Mass.) |
Cody Burtscher | Tarleton State (Texas) |
Trent Brodbeck | Wayne State (Mich.) |
Kyle Keyser | West Chester (Pa.) |
Caleb Baird | Wingate (N.C.) |
Division III | |
Player | School |
Andrew DiFranco | Albion (Mich.) |
Mark Upton | Bates (Maine) |
Drew Neuville | Bethel (Minn.) |
Davey Hardesty | Bridgewater (Va.) |
Brian Khoury | Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) |
Soren Pelz-Walsh | Castleton (Vt.) |
Will Longthorne | DePauw (Ind.) |
Jonathan Naji | Franklin and Marshall (Pa.) |
Isaac Robinson | Frostberg State (Md.) |
Sean Fenton | Gallaudet (D.C.) |
Cordell Boggs | Gettysburg (Pa.) |
Ibuki Ogasawara | Grinnell (Iowa) |
Conlan Aguirre | Hardin-Simmons (Texas) |
Ethan Hoppe | Hendrix (Ark.) |
Jack Campbell | Johns Hopkins (Md.) |
Joseph Marabito | Kenyon (Ohio) |
Sam Mulford | Lake Forest (Ill.) |
Austin Mital | Lycoming (Pa.) |
Forest Redlin | Macalester (Minn.) |
Robert Bradley | Maine Maritime |
Zach Rudolf | Manchester (Ind.) |
Matt Barnes | Monmouth (Ill.) |
Jalen Snyder-Scipio | Moravian (Pa.) |
Mason Tomblin | Ohio Wesleyan |
Patrick Neville | Redlands (Calif.) |
Carter Hanson | Saint John's (Minn.) |
Alec Mortillaro | St. John Fisher (N.Y.) |
Brad Hood | Trinity (Texas) |
Brandon Martuccio | Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) |
Branden Lloyd | Wisconsin-Oshkosh |
Logan Stoa | Wisconsin-Stout |
John Flood | Wisconsin-Whitewater |
Todd Ulmer | Wooster (Ohio) |