On Wednesday, the National Football Foundation announced the 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments. The award honors “an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.”
The list of 156 semifinalists will be trimmed down to 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1.
Each semifinalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. The finalist, announced on Dec. 6 at the 59th NFF Annual Awards, and will have his scholarship increased to $25,000.
“These 156 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.”
Here is the full list of 2016 nominees.
| FBS | FCS | DIVISION III | |
| Air Force – Claude Alexander | Austin Peay State – Trey Salisbury | Albion (Mich.) – Andrew DiFranco | |
| Arizona State – Matt Haack | Brown – Dakota Girard | Bates (Maine) – Mark Upton | |
| Arkansas – Brooks Ellis | Bucknell – Cary Hess | Bethel (Minn.) – Drew Neuville | |
| Arkansas State – Jake Swalley | Campbell – Jarrett Ozimek | Bridgewater (Va.) – Davey Hardesty | |
| Auburn – Alex Kozan | Charleston Southern – Ben Robinson | Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) – Brian Khoury | |
| Ball State – Sam Brunner | Chattanooga – Derrick Craine | Castleton (Vt.) – Soren Pelz-Walsh | |
| Boise State – Sean Wale | The Citadel – Will Vanvick | DePauw (Ind.) – Will Longthorne | |
| Brigham Young – Taysom Hill | Dayton – Chris Beaschler | Franklin and Marshall (Pa.) – Jonathan Naji | |
| Central Florida – Justin Holman | Delaware – Jalen Randolph | Frostburg State (Md.) – Isaac Robinson | |
| Central Michigan – Cooper Rush | Delaware State – Ernest Mengoni | Gallaudet (D.C.) – Sean Fenton | |
| Colorado – Ryan Severson | Eastern Kentucky – Avery Pitt | Gettysburg (Pa.) – Cordell Boggs | |
| Connecticut – Justin Wain | Elon – John Gallagher | Grinnell (Iowa) – Ibuki Ogasawara | |
| Duke – DeVon Edwards | Harvard – Max Rich | Hardin-Simmons (Texas) – Conlan Aguirre | |
| East Carolina – Zay Jones | Holy Cross – Jake Wieczorek | Hendrix (Ark.) – Ethan Hoppe | |
| Eastern Michigan – Cole Gardner | Idaho State – Hayden Stout | Johns Hopkins (Md.) – Jack Campbell | |
| Florida – Johnny Townsend | Illinois State – Mark Spelman | Kenyon (Ohio) – Joseph Marabito | |
| Florida Atlantic – Dillon DeBoer | Marist – Cameron Gibson | Lake Forest (Ill.) – Sam Mulford | |
| Fresno State – Jacob Vazquez | Missouri State – Dylan Cole | Lycoming (Pa.) – Austin Mital | |
| Georgia State – Bobby Baker | Morehead State – Pat DiSalvio | Macalester (Minn.) – Forest Redlin | |
| Houston – Tyler McCloskey | Murray State – Toby Omli | Maine Maritime – Robert Bradley | |
| Illinois – Joe Spencer | New Hampshire – Casey DeAndrade | Manchester (Ind.) – Zach Rudolf | |
| Indiana – Jacob Bailey | North Dakota State – Chase Morlock | Monmouth (Ill.) – Matt Barnes | |
| Iowa State – Kane Seeley | Northern Iowa – Karter Schult | Moravian (Pa.) – Jalen Snyder-Scipio | |
| Kansas State – Will Davis | Pennsylvania – Nick Demes | Ohio Wesleyan – Mason Tomblin | |
| Kent State – Nick Cuthbert | Princeton – Scott Carpenter | Redlands (Calif.) – Patrick Neville | |
| Kentucky – Jon Toth | Robert Morris – Andy Smigiera | Saint John’s (Minn.) – Carter Hanson | |
| Marshall – Emanuel Byrd | Saint Francis – Lance Geesey | St. John Fisher (N.Y.) – Alec Mortillaro | |
| Memphis – Jake Elliott | San Diego – Devyn Bryant | Trinity (Texas) – Brad Hood | |
| Miami (Fla.) – Justin Vogel | South Dakota State – Nick Mears | Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) – Brandon Martuccio | |
| Michigan – Michael Jocz | Stetson – Davion Belk | Wisconsin-Oshkosh – Branden Lloyd | |
| Michigan State – Josiah Price | Towson – Jake Ryder | Wisconsin-Stout – Logan Stoa | |
| Mississippi – Nathan Noble | Western Carolina – Fred Payne | Wisconsin-Whitewater – John Flood | |
| Mississippi State – Richie Brown | Western Illinois – Nathan Knuffman | Wooster (Ohio) – Todd Ulmer | |
| Missouri – Sean Culkin | William & Mary – Hunter Windmuller | ||
| Navy – Will Worth | Wofford – Nick Colvin | ||
| Nebraska – Josh Banderas | Yale – Sebastian Little | NAIA | |
| North Carolina – Nick Weiler | Morningside (Iowa) – Austin Anfinson | ||
| North Carolina State – Jack Tocho | Northwestern (Iowa) – Craig Bruinsma | ||
| North Texas – Fred Scott | DIVISION II | Peru State (Neb.) – Ryan Zuhlke | |
| Northern Illinois – Drew Hare | Ashland (Ohio) – Zach Bernhard | Trinity International (Ill.) – Riley Schussler | |
| Ohio State – Joe Burger | Bentley (Mass.) – Bryan Hardy | ||
| Old Dominion – Tyler Compton | California of Pa. – Ryan McCauley | ||
| Oregon – Johnny Ragin III | Central Missouri – Garrett Fugate | ||
| Penn State – Tyler Yazujian | Colorado School of Mines – Richie Rice | ||
| Pittsburgh – Dontez Ford | Delta State (Miss.) – Tyler Sullivan | ||
| Purdue – Jake Replogle | Harding (Ark.) – Cordell Zalenski | ||
| Rice – Darik Dillard | Humboldt State (Calif.) – Chase Krivashei | ||
| Rutgers – Quanzell Lambert | Kutztown (Pa.) – Kellen Williams | ||
| San Jose State – Tim Crawley | Malone (Ohio) – JC Pawlyk | ||
| South Carolina – Perry Orth | Northwest Missouri State – Simon Mathiesen | ||
| Southern Mississippi – Cameron Tom | Pittsburg State (Kan.) – Deron Washington | ||
| Stanford – Dallas Lloyd | Stonehill (Mass.) – Anthony Siciliano | ||
| Syracuse – Cameron MacPherson | Tarleton State (Texas) – Cody Burtscher | ||
| Temple – Brendan McGowan | Wayne State (Mich.) – Trent Brodbeck | ||
| Tennessee – Dylan Wiesman | West Chester (Pa.) – Kyle Keyser | ||
| Texas Tech – Justis Nelson | Wingate (N.C.) – Caleb Baird | ||
| Tulsa – Dane Evans | |||
| Utah – Hunter Dimick | |||
| Utah State – Travis Seefeldt | |||
| Virginia – Nicholas Conte | |||
| Wake Forest – Ryan Janvion | |||
| West Virginia – Tyler Orlosky | |||
| Western Kentucky – Marcus Ward | |||
| Western Michigan – Zach Terrell | |||
| Wisconsin – Vince Biegel | |||
| Wyoming – Chase Roullier | |||
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with the latest news and exclusive giveaways!
