Ashland's Bernhard A Semifinalist For NFF Campbell Trophy
(courtesy of Ashland Sports Information)
Ashland University senior linebacker Zach Bernhard has followed up his spot on the 2016 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team with the announcement on Thursday afternoon by the National Football Foundation (NFF) of his being one of 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy.
The William V. Campbell Trophy recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation, and is prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.
Bernhard, of 17 Division II semifinalists, sported a 3.61 cumulative grade-point average in Biochemistry as an undergrad, is the President of Ashland's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has been involved in several community service/volunteer endeavors.
On the field, as a backup linebacker and special teamer, Bernhard has three solo tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss in 2016 after making 15 total tackles each of the last two seasons. He also has returned a kickoff for 17 yards this fall.
Wayne State's Brodbeck Named National Semifinalist For NFF's Campbell Trophy
(courtesy of Wayne State Sports Information)
Wayne State University senior tight end Trent Brodbeck has been named a semifinalist for the 2016 Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation. Brodbeck is one of two GLIAC players recognized out of 17 NCAA Division II student-athletes and 156 football student-athletes across all divisions.
Academically, Brodbeck is a three-year member of the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team and has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.5+) for seven different semesters and the Coach's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.0-3.49) for one term.
Brodbeck has been involved in numerous community service events during his first four years in Detroit, including rebuilding/refurbishing a house for Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, which assists people struggling with addiction/abuse. He has also been involved in the Basic Needs Drive all four years. This drive sees WSU student-athletes organize, package and distribute basic need items (toiletries, etc.) to the homeless in greater Detroit. This past April, over 70 student-athletes, coaches and staff members prepared over 1,000 basic needs bags inside the Matthaei Center in the morning. The bags were then delivered and passed out at Cass Park, the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) and the bus depot in downtown Detroit. Westin Southfield Detroit Hotel was the title sponsor and contributed over 7,000 items for the event.
In addition, Brodbeck has participated both years in the Hashtag Lunch bag event. This past April nearly 70 student-athletes, coaches and staff members prepared over 1,000 lunches at the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church during the morning. The lunches were then delivered and passed out at the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) in downtown Detroit. Brodbeck has read to youth at a local elementary school numerous times during his WSU career. He also assisted at the WSU kid's football camps every summer as well as working the Garden City High School kid's football camp in the past.
Earlier this month, Brodbeck was selected to the Allstate AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Good Works Team®, which recognizes football student-athletes for their community service efforts.
Brodbeck's selection marks the 11th consecutive year Wayne State has had a national semifinalist for the William Campbell Trophy (previously known as the Draddy Trophy). Past honorees include Ryan Oshnock (2006), Frank Lietke (2007), Andrew Bates (2008), Bruno Shkreli (2009), Matt Faulkner (2010), Josh Renel (2011), Nick Thomas (2012), Chet Privett (2013), Thom Box (2014) and Carl Roscoe (2015).
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The NFF will select 12-14 finalists, who will each receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and vie for college football's premier scholar-athlete award.
IRVING, Texas -- The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced today the 156 semifinalists for the 2016William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments®. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation and is prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.
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 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."
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 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 $11.1 million.
"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.
2016 NFF WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS NOTES
- 156 Nominations
- 58th Year of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Program
- 3.63 Average GPA
- 50 Nominees with a 3.7 GPA or Better
- 91 Captains
- 72 All-Conference Picks
- 20 Academic All-America Selections
- 13 All-Americans
- 6 Members of the 2016 AFCA Good Works Team
- 66 Nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
- 36 Nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
- 17 Nominees from NCAA Division II
- 33 Nominees from NCAA Division III
- 4 Nominees from the NAIA
- 67 Offensive Players
- 68 Defensive Players
- 21 Special Teams Players
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.
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).
Here is the full list of 2016 nominees.
| FOOTBALL BOWL SUBDIVISION (FBS) | FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION (FCS) | DIVISION III |
| Air Force – Claude Alexander | Austin Peay State – Trey Salisbury | Albion (Mich.) – Andrew DiFranco |
| Arizona State – Matt Haack | Brown – Dakota Girard | Bates (Maine) – Mark Upton |
| Arkansas – Brooks Ellis | Bucknell – Cary Hess | Bethel (Minn.) – Drew Neuville |
| Arkansas State – Jake Swalley | Campbell – Jarrett Ozimek | Bridgewater (Va.) – Davey Hardesty |
| Auburn – Alex Kozan | Charleston Southern – Ben Robinson | Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) – Brian Khoury |
| Ball State – Sam Brunner | Chattanooga – Derrick Craine | Castleton (Vt.) – Soren Pelz-Walsh |
| Boise State – Sean Wale | The Citadel – Will Vanvick | DePauw (Ind.) – Will Longthorne |
| Brigham Young – Taysom Hill | Dayton – Chris Beaschler | Franklin and Marshall (Pa.) – Jonathan Naji |
| Central Florida – Justin Holman | Delaware – Jalen Randolph | Frostburg State (Md.) – Isaac Robinson |
| Central Michigan – Cooper Rush | Delaware State – Ernest Mengoni | Gallaudet (D.C.) – Sean Fenton |
| Colorado – Ryan Severson | Eastern Kentucky – Avery Pitt | Gettysburg (Pa.) – Cordell Boggs |
| Connecticut – Justin Wain | Elon – John Gallagher | Grinnell (Iowa) – Ibuki Ogasawara |
| Duke – DeVon Edwards | Harvard – Max Rich | Hardin-Simmons (Texas) – Conlan Aguirre |
| East Carolina – Zay Jones | Holy Cross – Jake Wieczorek | Hendrix (Ark.) – Ethan Hoppe |
| Eastern Michigan – Cole Gardner | Idaho State – Hayden Stout | Johns Hopkins (Md.) – Jack Campbell |
| Florida – Johnny Townsend | Illinois State – Mark Spelman | Kenyon (Ohio) – Joseph Marabito |
| Florida Atlantic – Dillon DeBoer | Marist – Cameron Gibson | Lake Forest (Ill.) – Sam Mulford |
| Fresno State – Jacob Vazquez | Missouri State – Dylan Cole | Lycoming (Pa.) – Austin Mital |
| Georgia State – Bobby Baker | Morehead State – Pat DiSalvio | Macalester (Minn.) – Forest Redlin |
| Houston – Tyler McCloskey | Murray State – Toby Omli | Maine Maritime – Robert Bradley |
| Illinois – Joe Spencer | New Hampshire – Casey DeAndrade | Manchester (Ind.) – Zach Rudolf |
| Indiana – Jacob Bailey | North Dakota State – Chase Morlock | Monmouth (Ill.) – Matt Barnes |
| Iowa State – Kane Seeley | Northern Iowa – Karter Schult | Moravian (Pa.) – Jalen Snyder-Scipio |
| Kansas State – Will Davis | Pennsylvania – Nick Demes | Ohio Wesleyan – Mason Tomblin |
| Kent State – Nick Cuthbert | Princeton – Scott Carpenter | Redlands (Calif.) – Patrick Neville |
| Kentucky – Jon Toth | Robert Morris – Andy Smigiera | Saint John's (Minn.) – Carter Hanson |
| Marshall – Emanuel Byrd | Saint Francis – Lance Geesey | St. John Fisher (N.Y.) – Alec Mortillaro |
| Memphis – Jake Elliott | San Diego – Devyn Bryant | Trinity (Texas) – Brad Hood |
| Miami (Fla.) – Justin Vogel | South Dakota State – Nick Mears | Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) – Brandon Martuccio |
| Michigan – Michael Jocz | Stetson – Davion Belk | Wisconsin-Oshkosh – Branden Lloyd |
| Michigan State – Josiah Price | Towson – Jake Ryder | Wisconsin-Stout – Logan Stoa |
| Mississippi – Nathan Noble | Western Carolina – Fred Payne | Wisconsin-Whitewater – John Flood |
| Mississippi State – Richie Brown | Western Illinois – Nathan Knuffman | Wooster (Ohio) – Todd Ulmer |
| Missouri – Sean Culkin | William & Mary – Hunter Windmuller | |
| Navy – Will Worth | Wofford – Nick Colvin | |
| Nebraska – Josh Banderas | Yale – Sebastian Little | NAIA |
| North Carolina – Nick Weiler | Morningside (Iowa) – Austin Anfinson | |
| North Carolina State – Jack Tocho | Northwestern (Iowa) – Craig Bruinsma | |
| North Texas – Fred Scott | DIVISION II | Peru State (Neb.) – Ryan Zuhlke |
| Northern Illinois – Drew Hare | Ashland (Ohio) – Zach Bernhard | Trinity International (Ill.) – Riley Schussler |
| Ohio State – Joe Burger | Bentley (Mass.) – Bryan Hardy | |
| Old Dominion – Tyler Compton | California of Pa. – Ryan McCauley | |
| Oregon – Johnny Ragin III | Central Missouri – Garrett Fugate | |
| Penn State – Tyler Yazujian | Colorado School of Mines – Richie Rice | |
| Pittsburgh – Dontez Ford | Delta State (Miss.) – Tyler Sullivan | |
| Purdue – Jake Replogle | Harding (Ark.) – Cordell Zalenski | |
| Rice – Darik Dillard | Humboldt State (Calif.) – Chase Krivashei | |
| Rutgers – Quanzell Lambert | Kutztown (Pa.) – Kellen Williams | |
| San Jose State – Tim Crawley | Malone (Ohio) – JC Pawlyk | |
| South Carolina – Perry Orth | Northwest Missouri State – Simon Mathiesen | |
| Southern Mississippi – Cameron Tom | Pittsburg State (Kan.) – Deron Washington | |
| Stanford – Dallas Lloyd | Stonehill (Mass.) – Anthony Siciliano | |
| Syracuse – Cameron MacPherson | Tarleton State (Texas) – Cody Burtscher | |
| Temple – Brendan McGowan | Wayne State (Mich.) – Trent Brodbeck | |
| Tennessee – Dylan Wiesman | West Chester (Pa.) – Kyle Keyser | |
| Texas Tech – Justis Nelson | Wingate (N.C.) – Caleb Baird | |
| Tulsa – Dane Evans | ||
| Utah – Hunter Dimick | ||
| Utah State – Travis Seefeldt | ||
| Virginia – Nicholas Conte | ||
| Wake Forest – Ryan Janvion | ||
| West Virginia – Tyler Orlosky | ||
| Western Kentucky – Marcus Ward | ||
| Western Michigan – Zach Terrell | ||
| Wisconsin – Vince Biegel | ||
| Wyoming – Chase Roullier |
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 FootballMatters.org, the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments, 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, Herff Jones, New York Athletic Club, Pasadena Tournament of Roses, PrimeSport, the Sports Business Journal, Under Armour and VICIS. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.
About The National College Football Awards Association
The William V. Campbell Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 22 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
