NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Four years ago, a younger Brett Dillard attended the National Football Foundation Middle Tennessee Chapter Awards Banquet in Nashville to accept an honor for his success as a high school football player who also excelled in the classroom.

He was the winner of the award for Mt. Juliet High School in April 2012, and received the Charles W. Hawkins III High School Scholar-Athlete recognition for the Golden Bears.

Flash forward four years to Monday night. The tuxedo-clad Dillard was back at the NFF Banquet at the Music City Sheraton Hotel, this time to walk across the stage and accept another honor as an outstanding student-athlete.

Dillard closed his four-year Tennessee Tech football career in the 2015 season, seeing action in 36 career games along the way and overcoming knee injuries to be a regular contributor in the offensive line. Monday night he was presented as Tennessee Tech’s University Scholar-Athlete by the NFF.

Joined by his parents, James and Amanda Dillard, along with TTU administration and several Golden Eagle football coaches, Dillard was one of seven recipients of the college-level award. A crowd of more the 600 was on hand for the event.

"Brett Dillard is the epitome of a student-athlete," said former Golden Eagle assistant coach Dewayne Alexander, who coached Dillard and is a member of the NFF Board of Directors. "On the field, he is a student of the game; coachable, and a reliable teammate who made everyone around him better. On campus and in the community, he is a servant leader who makes his life about others. He is an exampe of what all student-athletes should strive to be."

In addition to his time on the football field, Dillard has constructed a 3.75 GPA while majoring in biology wth a concentration in health science, and is on schedule to graduate in May. Among his community activities, Dillard took a mission trip to Honduras and Haiti, and serves is church, as well as a campus ministry.

Tennessee Tech's list of winners of the National Football Foundation University Scholar-Athlete Award:

2016    Brett Silas Dillard
2015    Cody James Matthews
2014    James McKenzie Normand
2013    Taylor Jake Hennigan
2012    Corey Shea Watson
2011    Kelechi Ordu
2010    Taylor Jarvis Askew
2009    Bradley Adam Thompson
2008    John Milton Jackson, III
2007    Anthony Quinn Ash, Jr.
2006    David McMahan
2005    Robert Craft
2004    Daniel Wentzel
2003    Trey Baxter Perry
2002    Grant Hayden Swallows
2001    James Andrew Dorsey
2000    (no record available)
1999    T. J. Christian
1998    Jeffrey Norman
1997    Robert L. Taylor, Jr.
1996    Adam Jeremy Wright
1995    Scott E. Trent
1994    Marc Evans
1993    Jason Scott Hiett
1992    Ted Guider Lockerby
1991    Spencer Hissam
1990    Ryan Weeks