NORMAL, Ill. - Former Illinois State football player Kedric Meredith was one of 564 players from 266 college football programs to qualify for the 2009 National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of players from all divisions who maintained a 3.2 grade-point average or better through his educational career, as announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Thursday.
"I continue to take great pride in being part of this initiative," said Florida State President and NFF Hampshire Honor Society National Advisory Committee Chairman Dr. T.K. Wetherell. "We continue to see strong membership growth in the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, and I encourage coaches at all levels to tap the competitive spirit of their teams and promote membership and academic performance as a point pride among their players."
Meredith, who will graduate in a couple of weeks with a double major in accounting and finance, was also a semifinalist for the NFF's Draddy Trophy, which is also known as "The Academic Heisman." He played in all 11 games with 10 starts for the Redbirds and finished with nine catches for 84 yards.
The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF's current National Scholar-Athlete program, greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year and further strengthening the organization's leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes who play football at the more than 700 college and universities with football programs nationwide. Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided an endowment to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as NFF chairman from 1994-2006.
"Thanks to the leadership of Jon Hanson, T.K. Wetherell and those that serve on the Hampshire Honor Society's advisory committee, the National Football Foundation has been able to extend its reach as a pioneer in the promotion of the scholar-athlete ideal with this empowering academic initiative," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "We strongly believe that football is unique in its ability to foster academic achievement in our young people, and this year's class contains countless examples of our nation's brightest young leaders."
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