By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Josh Poplar has been a fantastic student-athlete, proving his prowess on the field, in the community and in the classroom.
He's built a tremendous resume as a student-athlete at Tennessee Tech, and he's got a chance to be recognized nationally as Poplar was announced as one of 13 finalists for the 2018 STATS FCS Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award, serving as the nominee out of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The award, named after the late school teacher and wife of legendary Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson and presented to a Football Championship Subdivision student-athlete, will be announced on Monday and then presented on Jan. 4 at the FCS Awards Banquet and Presentation in Frisco, Texas, preceding the FCS title game on Jan. 5.
This is the fourth year of the award and it has twice been won by OVC student-athletes with Jacksonville State's Dalton Screws in 2015 and Eastern Kentucky's Tyler Swafford in 2016.
Poplar graduated in May with a 3.97 in business administration and is currently working on his MBA. He has twice been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team presented by CoSIDA and is currently in the running for an Academic All-American spot and was also nominated for the FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team, which will also be announced the week of the FCS National Championship.
During his career at Tech, Poplar has also earned the conference's Academic Medal of Honor and the OVC Scholar-Athlete Award, which is the most prestigious award bestowed to a student-athlete at the conference's member institutions. He has also been on the Tech Athletic Director's Honor Roll and the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll.
Poplar missed the 2017 season after a stroke led to the discovery of a hole in his heart, which required surgery. Through his efforts in the spring to come back to the team and his performance in the 2018 campaign, Poplar was named one of 30 nominees for the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year.
The senior linebacker finished the 2018 season with 101 tackles, which ranks fifth in the OVC and 26th nationally, while he also intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown and forced a fumble.
In the community, Poplar interned with the Putnam County chapter of Habitat for Humanity, while also volunteering with local elementary schools and working with the team's annual kids clinic. He is also active in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Association for Information Technology Professionals.
The other finalists for the award include:
- Big Sky Conference: Reggie Tilleman, Montana, DE, R-Sr. (business administration and finance degree, 3.90 GPA)
- Big South Conference: Chandler Burks, Kennesaw State, QB, R-Sr. (sport management degree, 3.90)
- CAA Football: Christopher Infantino, Stony Brook, OL, Sr. (degree in biology with a specialization in neuroscience and psychology, 3.31)
- Ivy League: Jesper Horsted, Princeton, WR, Sr. (sociology major, 3.52)
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Nick Leverett, North Carolina Central, OL, R-Jr. (criminal justice degree, 3.37)
- Missouri Valley Football Conference: Easton Stick, North Dakota State, QB, R-Sr. (sport management degree, 3.916)
- Northeast Conference: Matt Fitzpatrick, Duquesne, OL, R-Sr. (finance degree, 3.79)
- Patriot League: Alex Pechin, Bucknell, P, Sr. (biomedical engineering and management for engineers double major, 3.93)
- Pioneer Football League: Tucker Yinger, Dayton, RB, R-Sr. (mechanical engineering major, 3.81)
- Southern Conference: Alex Trotter, Chattanooga, RB, Sr. (mechanical engineering major, 3.29)
- Southland Conference: Adrian Contreras, Sam Houston State, S, Sr. (business administration/accounting degree, 3.84)
- Southwestern Athletic Conference: De'Arius Christmas, Grambling State, LB, Sr. (engineering technology major, 3.82)
