Walls Collects Southland Conference's 2018 F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship
5/8/2018 1:57:00 PM | Football
Former safety first SFA male student-athlete, fourth SFA student-athlete to collect league's ultimate academic honor
Complete Southland Conference Release
FRISCO, Texas - Recently graduated Stephen F. Austin football player and distinguished scholar Marlon Walls added yet another impressive accolade to his lengthening list Tuesday when the Pearland, Texas, product became SFA's first male recipient of the Southland Conference's F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship.
Walls is the first SFA student-athlete to receive the F. L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship since track & field's Heather McPherson claimed it in the spring of 2014. The four-year letterwinning safety joins McPherson, Sabrina Burns (volleyball, 2013) and Carrie Hahn (track & field, 2012) as the only four winners of the award who wore SFA colors.
"I just stop and thank God for putting me in the position that He's put me in, placed everyone in my path that He has and ultimately led me down this path to success," remarked Walls upon learning about his latest academic honor. "This scholarship adds on to a remarkable list of accomplishments that I couldn't have imagined would have come about by attending SFA. I'm beyond grateful for it and everyone who's supported me in getting to where I am today."
Tom Burnett, commissioner of the Southland Conference, made the announcement regarding the 2018 recipients via a press release. Walls joins Central Arkansas softball player Kate Myers as a recipient of the league's highest academic laurel for the 2017-18 academic year.
The McDonald Scholarship is the league's ultimate academic honor for graduating student-athletes. The award is presented annually to one female and one male student-athlete and is selected by the Southland Conference Faculty Athletic Representative Committee. The $5,000 scholarship must be applied to graduate study at an institution of the recipient's choice.
Myers and Walls will be recognized Tuesday, May 22, at the annual Southland Honors Dinner and Ceremony at the Westin Stonebriar Hotel in Frisco, Texas.
Said SFA head football coach Clint Conque upon leaning about Walls' award, "It is just remarkable the impact and legacy Marlon has left on our football program and the university as a whole.
"He will be remembered as one of the all great student-athletes in the history of our program and a standard for future players. I am so incredibly proud of him and this terrific recognition."
For the second consecutive year, Walls earned a spot on the Football Championship Subdivision Athletic Directors Association (FCS ADA) Academic All-Star Team in January and was one of just four Southland Conference football players to appear on the 49-man list. Additionally, Walls earned the prestigious title of FCS ADA Scholar-Athlete of the Year in March of this year.
As FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Walls will receive a $5,000 postgraduate scholarship during the Association's annual Awards Luncheon, held in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C., June 28-30. Walls and University of San Diego nickelback Max Michaels were selected from a group of nine FCS ADA Academic All-Star Team finalists.
In December, Walls attained his bachelor's degree after posting an unblemished 4.00 grade point average while majoring in engineering physics and minoring in mathematics. A two-time Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year, Walls completed his undergraduate degree in three and a half years of study in Nacogdoches.
The only Lumberjack to ever earn College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America® of the Year honors, Walls was tabbed an Academic All-American® First Team selection for the second-straight year in 2017. He became just the third student-athlete in the history of the Southland to attain the title of CoSIDA Academic All-American® of the Year since the inception of the plaudit in 1987 and is the first SFA football player in program history to be named Academic All-American® First Team. In claiming the national honor, which includes both FCS and FBS football student-athletes, Walls joined an illustrious fraternity of Academic All-Americans® of the Year with some of the most notable names in the sport. Previous CoSIDA Academic All-America® of the Year selections include Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1995 & 1996), Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Drew Brees (Purdue, 2000), Alex Smith (Utah, 2004), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2008 & 2009) and Andrew Luck (Stanford, 2011).
SFA's first William V. Campbell Trophy® finalist and National Football Foundation (NFF) National Scholar-Athlete, Walls' accomplishments were highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports this past December at the 2017 NFF & College Hall of Fame Annual Awards Dinner in downtown New York City. The prestigious Campbell Trophy® is regarded as the highest scholar-athlete honor in all of college football and the academic equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. With SFA already having a Walter Payton Award winner in former quarterback Jeremy Moss (2010), the 'Jacks became just the sixth football program in the nation to have both a Walter Payton Award winner and a NFF National Scholar-Athlete. Of those, only five schools have had both a Walter Payton Award winner and a Campbell Trophy® finalist since the Campbell Trophy® began in 1990.
A native of Pearland, Texas (Pearland H.S.), Walls was the Southland's pick as a 2017 STATS FCS Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award finalist. The safety is also a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selection and was a nominee for both the 2016 and 2017 Allstate/American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team. Placed on the Southland's All-Academic Team the past three seasons, Walls was a member of the Southland fall commissioner's honor roll each year since his freshman campaign in 2014. Named to the SFA President's List every semester of his career, he was the recipient of the SFA physics department's Brian Patrick Hanson Memorial Scholarship last year and claimed the Murray Shaw Award for owning the highest GPA of any Lumberjack football player.
Last summer Walls completed an internship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. While there, he joined other students from institutions such as MIT, Stanford and Yale to assist with the Europa Propulsion Module, a NASA space probe joint project. Walls returned to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in January and is gaining more work experience before pursuing a graduate degree in mechanical engineering this fall.
On the gridiron, Walls recorded 60 tackles, including 31 solo stops and two tackles for loss, while playing in all 11 games and making 10 starts this season. He registered a career-high 11 total tackles versus 17th-ranked Nicholls on Nov. 11 and posted nine tackles in two other outings. Walls also claimed three pass breakups, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery throughout the year. No Lumberjack on SFA's current roster played in (46) or started (24) more games than Walls did throughout his four-year career in the purple and white.
The F.L. McDonald Postgraduate Scholarship was established in memory of Dr. F.L. McDonald in 1996-97, a former president of Lamar University and 1999 Southland Hall of Honor inductee. McDonald served as Lamar's president in 1963 when the Southland Conference was established and is considered one of the league's founding fathers.
Each member institution may nominate one male and one female student-athlete who meet the following criteria: a two-season letter winner in a conference sport, maintain a minimum GPA of 3.75 at the nominating institution, be on track to graduate during the spring or subsequent summer in which they are nominated, plan to attend graduate school no later than the second fall following receipt of the award, and be an active member in the campus and local community.
-SFA-
