By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the National Football Foundation unveiled its list of 185 semifinalists for the 2019 William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Mazda, the Tennessee Tech football team earned a representative on the impressive list as senior wide receiver Seth Huner was among the nominees.
"Seth is the epitome of a student-athlete," Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander said. "He is a leader on the field, in the classroom and in the community."
Huner is currently studying mechanical engineering and has a 3.83 grade point average. He has been selected to the Tech Athletic Director's Honor Roll six times, won the team's Academic Award for the 2018 season, earned three selections to the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll and the 2018 OVC Academic Medal of Honor.
Through his first three seasons, Huner had 19 catches for 227 yards and a touchdown, and was the holder for kicker Nick Madonia's impressive run with 65 straight PATs between 2016 and 2018 as well as 15-for-22 on field goals with a 3-for-5 from beyond 50 yards.
Huner has also been visible in the community. He served food at a recent Habitat For Humanity luncheon at Cookeville's Leslie Town Centre, volunteered with the Rich Froning Mustard Seed Mayhem event with CrossFit Mayhem and Mustard Seed Ranch, helped clean-up efforts at Upperman Middle School, read to students at Algood Elementary for Read Across America Day and helped set up and take down the traveling Vietnam War Memorial for the "Wall That Heals" exhibit. He also spent 10 days in Peru this summer on a church mission trip.
This season, Huner has played in all four games, hauling in four catches for 74 yards, an average of 18.5 yards per game.
In all, 185 student-athletes were selected as semifinalists. The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 30 with each of them receiving an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class presented by Fidelity Investments.
Nominees were selected by their schools and the candidates must have been a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing eligibility, have at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, have demonstrated outstanding football ability as a first-team player or significant contributor and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship.
"These 185 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (a Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003. "For more than 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. And we are excited to celebrate the 30th year of the William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Mazda, which honors the best of the best. This year's semifinalists further illustrate the power of our great sport in developing the next generation of influential leaders."
The trophy is 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 presented by Mazda is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 to a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000. The year's scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution past $11.7 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 and 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 list includes eight nominees with a 4.0 GPA, 108 team captains, 87 all-conference selections, 18 All-Americans, 71 from the Football Bowl Subdivision, 39 from the Football Championship Subdivision, 19 from Division II, 49 from Division III and seven from the NAIA.
Also included from the OVC were Pat Walker (Austin Peay), Joe Caputo (Eastern Illinois) and Samuel Hayworth (Eastern Kentucky).
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
