Travis Watson candidate for national award
10/1/2011 12:23:00 PM | Football
The awards are presented by Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of not-for-profit workplace retirement savings plans in higher education . The 127 nominees also comprise the list of semifinalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation.
Watson is one of 33 NCAA Division I FCS players on the list. He is one of four players from the Southland Conference nominated. The other three are Ben Bourgeois of McNeese State, Drew Nelson of Stephen F. Austin and Yaser Elqutub of Northwestern State.
The Norman, Oklahoma, product is the starting center and a team co-captain for the 2011 Bearkats. He is in his third season as a starter and has blocked the past two years for the Southland Conference's top rushing attack.
A political science major who studied Arabic for four weeks in Jordan this summer on a special scholarship, Watson is a two-time Academic All-Southland Conference selection. He holds a 3.47 overall grade point average.
"This year's candidates truly embody the National Football Foundation's mission of building leaders through football," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton (1997 Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "They are standouts in the classroom and on the field and have become leaders in their respective communities. Each school should take great pride in being represented by such well-rounded young men who will undoubtedly go on to do great things in life."
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.
The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 16 recipients, and the results will be announced via a national press release on Wednesday, October 26. Each recipient will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and they will vie as finalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy.
Each member of the 2011 National Scholar-Athlete Class will also travel to New York City be honored December 6 during the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports.
The 2011 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Candidates combined for a 3.60 average grade point average. A total of 86 are team captains. Fifty-six are All-Conference selections.
NFF NATIONAL SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARDS CANDIDATES
Football Bowl Subdivision
Air Force - A.J. Wallerstein
Arizona State - Aaron Pflugrad
Army - Andrew Rodriguez
Auburn - Barrett Trotter
Ball State - Briggs Orsbon
Boise State - Nate Potter
Bowling Green State - Ben Bojicic
Brigham Young - Bryan Kariya
Buffalo - Peter Fardon
California - Giorgio Tavecchio
Clemson - Dawson Zimmerman
Colorado - Travis Sandersfeld
Connecticut - Harris Agbor
Georgia - Drew Butler
Indiana - Leon Beckum
Iowa - Tyler Nielsen
Kansas State - Tysyn Hartman
Kentucky - Stuart Hines
Miami (Fla.) - Spencer Whipple
Miami (Ohio) - Anthony Kokal
Michigan State - Kirk Cousins
Missouri - Grant Ressel
Navy - John Dowd
Nebraska - Austin Cassidy
North Carolina State - Mikel Overgaard
Northern Illinois - Chandler Harnish
Northwestern - Dan Persa
Notre Dame - David Ruffer
Oklahoma State - Brandon Weeden
Pittsburgh - Myles Caragein
Purdue - Joe Holland
Rutgers - Scott Vallone
San Diego State - Miles Burris
South Florida - Chaz Hine
Southern Mississippi - Austin Davis
Syracuse - Kevyn Scott
Texas - Emmanuel Acho
Texas A&M - Ryan Tannehill
Toledo - Mike VanDerMeulen
Troy - Jamie Hampton
Virginia - Robert Randolph
Virginia Tech - Danny Coale
Wake Forest - Michael Hoag
Washington State - Jared Karstetter
Western Michigan - John Potter
Wisconsin - Bradie Ewing
Wyoming - Clayton Kirven
Football Championship Subdivision
Albany - Herb Glass
Arkansas-Pine Bluff - Christopher Wilson
Austin Peay State - Nick Newsome
Brown - Kyle Newhall-Caballero
Bucknell - Tim Bolte
Columbia - Bob Hauschildt
Dartmouth - Luke Hussey
Dayton - Devon Langhorst
Delaware - Rob McDowell
Drake - Michael Lahart
Eastern Illinois - Cory Leman
Eastern Kentucky - Emory Attig
Elon - A.J. Harris
Georgia State - Kalan Jenkins
Holy Cross - Mike McCabe
Illinois State - Eric Brunner
McNeese State - Ben Bourgeois
Montana - Alex Shaw
North Dakota - Catlin Solum
North Dakota State - Matt Veldman
Northern Arizona - Ben Bachelier
Northern Iowa - Ben Boothby
Northwestern State - Yaser Elqutub
Old Dominion - Ronnie Cameron
Rhode Island - Matt Rae
Sam Houston State - Travis Watson
Samford - Joe Collins
South Dakota - Chris Ganious
South Dakota State - Brad Iverson
Stephen F. Austin - Drew Nelson
Valparaiso - Bobby Wysocki
Yale - Patrick Witt
Youngstown State - Andrew Johnson
NCAA Division II
Clark Atlanta (Ga.) - Aramide Adefemiwa
Colorado School of Mines - Clay Garcia
Colorado State-Pueblo - Lee Meisner
Delta State (Miss.) - Micah Davis
Ferris State (Mich.) - Tom Schneider
Harding (Ark.) - Luke Tribble
Newberry (S.C.) - Lequawn James
St. Cloud State (Minn.) - Matt Theis
Virginia State - William Rudd
Wayne State (Mich.) - Josh Renel
Wingate (N.C.) - Cody Haffly
NCAA Division III
Albion (Mich.) - John Lesinski
Augustana (Ill.) - David Lee
Bluffton (Ohio) - Russell Krouse
Case Western Reserve (Ohio) - Richard Doolin
Central (Iowa) - Jeremy Snead
Chicago (Ill.) - Danny Polaneczky
Cornell (Iowa) - Erik Krol
Dubuque (Iowa) - Michael Zweifel
Gallaudet (D.C.) - Caleb Hinton
Grinnell (Iowa) - Chris Jarmon
Hamline (Minn.) - Joshua Bain
Hampden-Sydney (Va.) - Ben Rogers
Macalester (Minn.) - Will Dhonau
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. - Tyler Wagner
Mississippi College - Jeremy Bertrand
Moravian (Pa.) - Allen Petros
Norwich (Vt.) - Long Ding
Redlands (Calif.) - Tyler Aubrey
Rowan (N.J.) - Eric Sharkey
Saint John's (Minn.) - Andrew Rotschafer
St. Thomas (Minn.) - Dan Chapman
Trinity (Conn.) - Herman Brito
U.S. Coast Guard Academy (Conn.) - Ryan Webster
Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) - Gary Flavion
Washington Univ. in St. Louis (Mo.) - Kyle Larkin
Westminster (Pa.) - Shawn Lehocky
Williams (Mass.) - Ben Halbower
Wisconsin-Eau Claire - David Goodman
Wisconsin-Oshkosh - Justin Budiac
Wisconsin-Whitewater - Jared Kiesow
NAIA
Baker (Kan.) - John Babb
Cumberland (Tenn.) - Ben Miller
Cumberlands (Ky.) - Jay Bright
Morningside (Iowa) - Matt Muschall
Saint Xavier (Ill.) - Michael Prosser
South Dakota School of Mines - Andy Smith
