Harding's Sam Blankenship Named Semifinalist for William V. Campbell Trophy

IRVING, Texas – The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced today the 179 semifinalists for the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

Among the semifinalists was Harding senior linebacker Sam Blankenship. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Blankenship graduated summa cum laude in May with a 3.93 GPA in finance. He is currently in graduate school working on a Master of Arts in Teaching. Blankenship earned second-team AP All-America honors last season, recording 130 tackles and helping lead Harding to the national semifinals. He has started 19 straight games at linebacker over the last two seasons and is a team captain in 2018.

Blankenship is one of only 25 NCAA Division II student-athletes on the semifinalist list.

The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 31, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 60th NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 4, 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 29th William V. Campbell Trophy^® 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 179 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 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 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 $11.5 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."

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 Robert 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 Muñoz (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); Oklahoma's Ty Darlington (2015); Western Michigan's Zach Terrell(2016); and Virginia's Micah Kiser (2017).

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#42 Sam Blankenship: LB; 6' 3"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#42 Sam Blankenship
: 6' 3"; Senior
: LB

Harding University Athletics

Schedule

Events

Harding's Sam Blankenship Named Semifinalist for William V. Campbell Trophy

Players Mentioned

#42 Sam Blankenship

Players Mentioned

#42 Sam Blankenship