IRVING, Texas – Illinois State senior All-American long snapper Chris Highland was selected as one of the best and brightest from the college gridiron, when The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced Thursday the 167 semifinalists for the 2014 William V. Campbell Trophy®, presented by Fidelity Investments®.
The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation, and up to 16 of the candidates will be named recipients of a prestigious NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award, also presented by Fidelity Investments. Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete program awards $18,000 scholarships that can be used for the honorees' postgraduate educations. This year's recipients will be announced Oct. 30, and one will be declared the winner of the Campbell Trophy, Dec. 9, at the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner.
A 2013 Second-Team All-America selection by The Sports Network, Highland is widely regarded as one of the best long snappers in the collegiate ranks. He has been the starting long snapper for the past three seasons for Illinois State, and during that time he has not been credited with a bad snap. Highland maintains a 3.60 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) as a broadcast journalism major at ISU, and has worked in leadership positions at both the campus radio (WZND) and television (TV-10) stations. He recently served as the WZND News and Sports Operations Director during the 2013-14 and is currently the TV-10 SportsZone Executive Producer.
In addition to his work on the field and in the classroom, Highland is also involved in various community efforts. He was a 2014 Illinois Special Olympics Polar Plunge jumper and has worked with Illinois Special Olympics as part of several team events. He also assisted with the "Stay 4" initiative as a volunteer for the Great Plains Life Foundation and has been a committee member for the State Farm Holiday Classic, which is considered one of the largest, co-ed high school holiday basketball tournaments in the nation.
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.
"These 167 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 Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total post-graduate scholarship of $25,000. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $10.7 million.
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