Eastern Michigan Athletics
Photo by: Steve King/KingStudios
Cole Gardner Named a Semifinalist for NFF Campbell Trophy
9/28/2016 2:56:00 PM | Football
The offensive lineman is one of 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy
Complete Release.
IRVING, Texas (EMUEagles.com) — The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) has announced its 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments. The Campbell Trophy is recognized as college football's premier scholar-athlete award. The 156 individuals come from all divisions of college football. Eastern Michigan University redshirt senior offensive lineman Cole Gardner (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia) is one of the individuals nominated for this year's award.
Gardner is pursuing his master's degree in business administration at EMU after graduating in April with a 3.46 GPA in supply chain management.
The Batavia, Ill. native unselfishly moved from the tight end spot in 2014 to the offensive line last year to help bolster the line's depth. A fixture up front in 2015, he started 10 games for the Eagles on the offensive line. Gardner was named to the Academic All-MAC Team and earned EMU's Harold E. Sponberg Lineman Scholar-Athlete Award. This year, Gardner has started all four games for the Eagles at left tackle and has helped the team to its best start in 21-years.
From the original list of 156 semifinalists, 12 to 14 finalists will be named on Nov. 1 to the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. Each finalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. Those finalists for the 2016 Campbell Award will travel to New York City for the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6. The winner of the Campbell Award will be announced at the NFF Awards Dinner and will receive an additional $7,000 in scholarship money to increase his overall postgraduate scholarship to $25,000.
The Campbell Trophy is named for Bill Campbell, who was chairman of Intuit and was a former player and coach at Columbia University. Campbell was honored in 2004 as the recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal. The Campbell Trophy, which is displayed at its home in the New York Athletic Club, is a 25-pound bronze trophy. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.1 million.
"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."
The 156 semifinalists for the 2016 Campbell Trophy have achieved a number of impressive accomplishments already in their careers, including: a combined average GPA of 3.63; 72 All-Conference selections; 20 Academic All-America honors; and 13 All-America selections.
All divisions of college football are represented by this year's semifinalists. Gardner is one of 66 nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and is one of 91 team captains nominated. There are 36 nominations from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), 17 from NCAA Division II, 33 from NCAA Division III and four from the NAIA. There are 67 offensive nominees, 68 defensive nominees and 21 special teams nominees.
"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 & 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."
To be nominated by their schools, candidates must meet the following requirements: be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility; have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or better on a 4.0 scale; have outstanding football ability; and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The Scholar-Athlete class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is made up of nationally-recognized media members, College Football Hall of Fame members, and athletics administrators.
The past recipients of the William V. Campbell Trophy include: Air Force's Chris Howard (1990); Florida's Brad Culpepper (1991); Colorado's Jim Hansen (1992); Virginia's Thomas Burns (1993); Nebraska's Rob Zatechka (1994); Ohio State's Bobby Hoying (1995); Florida's Danny Wuerffel (1996); Tennessee's Peyton Manning (1997); Georgia's Matt Stinchcomb (1998); Marshall's Chad Pennington (1999); Nebraska's Kyle Vanden Bosch (2000); Miami (Fla.)'s Joaquin Gonzalez (2001); Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)'s Brandon Roberts (2002); Ohio State's Craig Krenzel (2003); Tennessee's Michael Munoz (2004); LSU's Rudy Niswanger (2005); Rutgers' Brian Leonard (2006); Texas' Dallas Griffin (2007); California's Alex Mack (2008); Florida's Tim Tebow (2009); Texas' Sam Acho (2010); Army West Point's Andrew Rodriguez (2011); Alabama's Barrett Jones (2012); Penn State's John Urschel (2013); Duke's David Helton (2014); and Oklahoma's Ty Darlington (2015).
IRVING, Texas (EMUEagles.com) — The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) has announced its 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments. The Campbell Trophy is recognized as college football's premier scholar-athlete award. The 156 individuals come from all divisions of college football. Eastern Michigan University redshirt senior offensive lineman Cole Gardner (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia) is one of the individuals nominated for this year's award.
Gardner is pursuing his master's degree in business administration at EMU after graduating in April with a 3.46 GPA in supply chain management.
The Batavia, Ill. native unselfishly moved from the tight end spot in 2014 to the offensive line last year to help bolster the line's depth. A fixture up front in 2015, he started 10 games for the Eagles on the offensive line. Gardner was named to the Academic All-MAC Team and earned EMU's Harold E. Sponberg Lineman Scholar-Athlete Award. This year, Gardner has started all four games for the Eagles at left tackle and has helped the team to its best start in 21-years.
From the original list of 156 semifinalists, 12 to 14 finalists will be named on Nov. 1 to the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class. Each finalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. Those finalists for the 2016 Campbell Award will travel to New York City for the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6. The winner of the Campbell Award will be announced at the NFF Awards Dinner and will receive an additional $7,000 in scholarship money to increase his overall postgraduate scholarship to $25,000.
The Campbell Trophy is named for Bill Campbell, who was chairman of Intuit and was a former player and coach at Columbia University. Campbell was honored in 2004 as the recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal. The Campbell Trophy, which is displayed at its home in the New York Athletic Club, is a 25-pound bronze trophy. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.1 million.
"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."
The 156 semifinalists for the 2016 Campbell Trophy have achieved a number of impressive accomplishments already in their careers, including: a combined average GPA of 3.63; 72 All-Conference selections; 20 Academic All-America honors; and 13 All-America selections.
All divisions of college football are represented by this year's semifinalists. Gardner is one of 66 nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and is one of 91 team captains nominated. There are 36 nominations from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), 17 from NCAA Division II, 33 from NCAA Division III and four from the NAIA. There are 67 offensive nominees, 68 defensive nominees and 21 special teams nominees.
"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 & 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."
To be nominated by their schools, candidates must meet the following requirements: be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility; have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or better on a 4.0 scale; have outstanding football ability; and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The Scholar-Athlete class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is made up of nationally-recognized media members, College Football Hall of Fame members, and athletics administrators.
The past recipients of the William V. Campbell Trophy include: Air Force's Chris Howard (1990); Florida's Brad Culpepper (1991); Colorado's Jim Hansen (1992); Virginia's Thomas Burns (1993); Nebraska's Rob Zatechka (1994); Ohio State's Bobby Hoying (1995); Florida's Danny Wuerffel (1996); Tennessee's Peyton Manning (1997); Georgia's Matt Stinchcomb (1998); Marshall's Chad Pennington (1999); Nebraska's Kyle Vanden Bosch (2000); Miami (Fla.)'s Joaquin Gonzalez (2001); Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)'s Brandon Roberts (2002); Ohio State's Craig Krenzel (2003); Tennessee's Michael Munoz (2004); LSU's Rudy Niswanger (2005); Rutgers' Brian Leonard (2006); Texas' Dallas Griffin (2007); California's Alex Mack (2008); Florida's Tim Tebow (2009); Texas' Sam Acho (2010); Army West Point's Andrew Rodriguez (2011); Alabama's Barrett Jones (2012); Penn State's John Urschel (2013); Duke's David Helton (2014); and Oklahoma's Ty Darlington (2015).
Players Mentioned
OL
/ FootballEMU Football Pregame Press Conference: Week 3 vs. Kentucky
Monday, September 08
Highlights: Football vs. LIU
Sunday, September 07
EMU Football Week Two Hype Video
Sunday, September 07
EMU Football Pregame Press Conference: Week 2 vs. LIU
Monday, September 01