FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU football student-athlete Caylin Moore has been named a 2016 Rhodes Scholar finalist.
The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the oldest and most prestigious scholarships in the world. Only 32 students from the United States are selected each year.
"Caylin's moral character, commitment to others and leadership skills exemplify the qualities of a Rhodes Scholar and the spirit of TCU," TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. said in a news release.
Moore, a senior safety, is an economics major with a 3.9 grade-point average. He is a former Truman Scholarship finalist and a current finalist for the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship Program.
Moore has overcome a number of obstacles in earning an academic scholarship at TCU, from growing up in inner-city Los Angeles and being homeless during his youth, to having a father who is in prison for life and a mother who was a victim of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
After starting his career at Marist, where he became a janitor to help make ends meet financially, Moore transferred to TCU before the 2015 season.
Moore has taken part in more than a dozen community service initiatives, including starting a youth outreach program called S.P.A.R.K. He was recently named to the 25th-Anniversary Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Additionally, he was a finalist for the 2016 Big 12 Conference Sportsperson of the Year.
