Walls Named a Semifinalist for William V. Campbell Trophy
9/27/2017 4:35:00 PM | Football
Senior safety Marlon Walls has been named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation’s prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, one of only 37 FCS players to appear on the list and one of only two student-athletes nominated from the Southland Conference
National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame release
IRVING, Texas – Stephen F. Austin football's Marlon Walls has been honored by The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) with being named a semifinalist for the prestigious 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy® presented by Fidelity Investments®, the organization announced Wednesday. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
Walls is among 181 semifinalists for the distinguished award and is one of only 37 FCS football players to appear on the list. Furthermore, Walls is one of just two student-athletes nominated from the Southland Conference.
The first Stephen F. Austin football player in school history to be selected as a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First-Team Academic All-American, Walls is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selection and is the reigning Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year. The senior safety was a nominee for both the 2016 and 2017 Allstate/AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Good Works Team and was a finalist for the 2016 Doris Robinson Award, the FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Placed on the Southland's All-Academic Team in 2016 and 2015, Walls has been a member of the conference's fall commissioner's honor roll each year since his freshman season in 2014. He was also named to the 2016 FCS Athletic Directors Association (ADA) Academic All-Star Team.
A native of Pearland, Texas (Pearland H.S.), Walls owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is on pace to graduate in December after just three and a half years of studying at SFA. Pursuing a degree in engineering physics with a minor in mathematics, Walls plans on furthering his education starting in the fall of 2018 by seeking a graduate degree in mechanical engineering. This past summer, Walls completed an internship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he joined other students from institutions such as MIT, Stanford and Yale to assist with the Europa Propulsion Module, a joint project with NASA.
Outside of football, Walls has been active with community service in both Nacogdoches and Houston during his time as a student-athlete. Among the large number community service projects he has participated in are serving as a nutrition and life skills advocate, a student tutor, reading to local elementary schools and lending his time on Thanksgiving Day, passing out meals to needy citizens.
Through four games this season, the safety has tallied a total of 23 tackles on the field, including making 10 solo stops and registering a pass breakup. Walls has started each game this season and has amassed 114 tackles for his career, including 69 unassisted stops and three and a half tackles of loss.
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 60th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 28th William V. Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.
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® is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000, which is endowed by HealthSouth. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.3 million. Since 2013, the Campbell Trophy® has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.
Nominated by institutions, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing 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.
-SFA-
IRVING, Texas – Stephen F. Austin football's Marlon Walls has been honored by The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) with being named a semifinalist for the prestigious 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy® presented by Fidelity Investments®, the organization announced Wednesday. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
Walls is among 181 semifinalists for the distinguished award and is one of only 37 FCS football players to appear on the list. Furthermore, Walls is one of just two student-athletes nominated from the Southland Conference.
The first Stephen F. Austin football player in school history to be selected as a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) First-Team Academic All-American, Walls is a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selection and is the reigning Southland Football Student-Athlete of the Year. The senior safety was a nominee for both the 2016 and 2017 Allstate/AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Good Works Team and was a finalist for the 2016 Doris Robinson Award, the FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Placed on the Southland's All-Academic Team in 2016 and 2015, Walls has been a member of the conference's fall commissioner's honor roll each year since his freshman season in 2014. He was also named to the 2016 FCS Athletic Directors Association (ADA) Academic All-Star Team.
A native of Pearland, Texas (Pearland H.S.), Walls owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is on pace to graduate in December after just three and a half years of studying at SFA. Pursuing a degree in engineering physics with a minor in mathematics, Walls plans on furthering his education starting in the fall of 2018 by seeking a graduate degree in mechanical engineering. This past summer, Walls completed an internship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he joined other students from institutions such as MIT, Stanford and Yale to assist with the Europa Propulsion Module, a joint project with NASA.
Outside of football, Walls has been active with community service in both Nacogdoches and Houston during his time as a student-athlete. Among the large number community service projects he has participated in are serving as a nutrition and life skills advocate, a student tutor, reading to local elementary schools and lending his time on Thanksgiving Day, passing out meals to needy citizens.
Through four games this season, the safety has tallied a total of 23 tackles on the field, including making 10 solo stops and registering a pass breakup. Walls has started each game this season and has amassed 114 tackles for his career, including 69 unassisted stops and three and a half tackles of loss.
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Nov. 1, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 60th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 5, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be declared as the winner of the 28th William V. Campbell Trophy® and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.
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® is a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total postgraduate scholarship of $25,000, which is endowed by HealthSouth. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.3 million. Since 2013, the Campbell Trophy® has been prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.
Nominated by institutions, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing 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.
-SFA-
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