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2005 Draddy Trophy Semi-Finalists Named
Posted: Oct 4, 2005
Known in many circles as the “Academic” Heisman, the Draddy Trophy continues to be one of college football’s most sought after and competitive awards, recognizing an individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership. “The Draddy epitomizes everything right about college football,” said NFF President Steven J. Hatchell. “By recognizing this group, we highlight the countless hours and demands that each college football player must balance as they pursue their dreams of a higher education and their passion for football. The NFF has both the privilege and responsibility to pay tribute to this exceptional group of role models, who truly embody the term student-athlete.” Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, semi-finalists must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. Established to honor former NFF Chairman Vincent dePaul Draddy, a Manhattan College quarterback who founded the Izod and Lacoste brands, the award comes with a stunning 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship. With a 3.5 average GPA and majors such as biomedical engineering, the group includes 106 players who have earned all-conference recognition on the field and 125 captains. The offensive line produced the most nominees with 45. Linebackers came in second with 30 candidates. Offense outscored the defense with 88 to 80 hopefuls. The 16 special teams aspirants complete the contingent. Nominees hail from all NCAA divisions and the NAIA: 63 from Division I-A; 44 from Division I-AA; 20 from Division II; 43 from Division III; and 14 from the NAIA. The NFF Awards Committee, comprised of former coaches, Hall of Famers and college administrators, will select and announce 15 finalists on Oct. 27. The winner, also selected by the committee, will be announced at the 48th NFF Awards Dinner on December 6 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Each finalist will also be recognized that night as part of the 2005 National Scholar-Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. Launched in 1959, the NFF scholar-athlete program became the first initiative in history to credit a player for both academic and athletic accomplishments. The Draddy, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program’s mystique. Past Draddy winners, including two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, a Heisman winner and a 3.7 average GPA, are: Chris Howard (Air Force, 1990); John B. Culpepper (Florida, 1991); Jim Hansen (Colorado, 1992); Thomas Burns (Virginia, 1993); Robert Zatechka (Nebraska, 1994); Bobby Hoying (Ohio State, 1995); Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1996); Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997); Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia, 1998); Chad Pennington (Marshall, 1999); Kyle Vanden Bosch (Nebraska, 2000); Joaquin Gonzalez (Miami, 2001); Brandon Roberts (Washington University-Mo., 2002); Craig Krenzel (Ohio State, 2003); and Michael Munoz (Tennessee, 2004). HealthSouth is one of the nation's largest providers of outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging and rehabilitative healthcare services, operating facilities nationwide. HealthSouth can be found on the Web at www.healthsouth.com. With 119 chapters and over 10,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America’s young people. Find more at www.footballfoundation.org. – See next page for a complete list of nominees – 2005 National Scholar-Athlete Nominations and Draddy Semi-Finalists DIVISION I-A Anderson, David - Colorado State Avant, Jason - Michigan Basanez, Brett - Northwestern Bassler, Blade - Houston Bazaldua, Nick - North Texas Betts, Josh - Miami (Ohio) Bienemann, Troy - Washington State Bracken, Richard - Arkansas Brooks, Darrell - Arizona Castillo, David - Florida State Clary, Jeromy - Kansas State Culver, Lanell - Fresno State Dawson, Trinity - Toledo Day, Timothy - Oregon Degory, Mike - Florida Dewan, Brendan - Duke Eslinger, Greg - Minnesota Foltz, Ryan - California Fredrick, Nate - Utah State Gostkowski, Stephen - Memphis Green, John - U.S. Naval Academy Gross, John - Temple Haas, Robert - Western Michigan Hoyte, Brandon - Notre Dame Huffman, Atonino - Kentucky Hughes, Connor - Virginia Jennings, Kelly - Miami (FL) Johnson, Darcy - Central Florida Johnson, Luke - Southern Mississippi Justice, Doug - North Carolina Kane, Kevin - Kansas King, Jeffrey - Virginia Tech Kirkwood, Gregory - U.S. Air Force Academy Lorello, Mike - West Virginia Love, Grayling - Arizona State Lumpkin, William - Indiana Miller, Matthew - Ohio Mills, Garrett - Tulsa Mullins, James - Marshall Neill, Ryan - Rutgers Niswanger, Rudy - Louisiana State Obomanu, Benjamin - Auburn Pace, Andrew - Vanderbilt Person, Francis - South Carolina Reis, Christopher - Georgia Tech Robinson, Michael - Pennsylvania State Ryans, DeMeco - Alabama Sanders, Aaron - Buffalo Scandrett, Devarick - Middle Tennessee St. Schnittker, Brandon - Ohio State Sessler, Jon - Kent State Shimmelman, Kevin - Stanford Shockley, D.J. - Georgia Smith, Bradley - Missouri Swiger, Jason - Akron Thaler, Mike - Bowling Green State Thomas, John - Texas Toone, Spencer - Utah Torp, John - Colorado Traina, Matthew - Tulane Turner, Matthew - Purdue Wenger, Edward - Florida International White, Spencer - Brigham Young DIVISION I-AA Bennett, Maurice - Lafayette College Bretsch, Philip - San Diego Chromiak, Peter - Columbia Curiel, Thomas - Cal Poly Cwik, Joseph - Eastern Washington Davis, Stafford - Illinois State Degraffenreid, Adam - Charleston Southern Dooley, Joshua - Dartmouth Doughty, Reed - Northern Colorado Farrel, Brook - Liberty Forrest, Jason - Robert Morris Golightly, Gerell - Hampton Grande, Matthew - Marist College Haley, Cole - Hofstra Handlon, Matthew - Yale Hartigan, Nick - Brown Hoelscher, Matt - Stephen F. Austin State Horvath, Ryan - Drake Jetton, Mark - Elon Johnson, Henry - Nicholls State Johnson, Will - Harvard Jones, Chris - McNeese State Kehayas, Terence - Iona College Kesic, Miro - Northeastern Klein, Mitch - South Dakota State Lulay, Travis - Montana State MacIntyre, Shane - Montana Magerko, Matthew - James Madison McMahon, David - Butler Mefford, Paul - Northwestern State Moshier, Randall - Texas State Parham, Charles - Alabama State Parks, Thomas - Delaware Pietzak, Eugene - Stony Brook Pricolo, Edward - Sacret Heart Richardson, Jordan - Austin Peay State Rosser, Bryson - Tennessee State Schabilion, John - Northern Iowa Singleton, Jeff - Northern Arizona Smith, Brandon - Sacramento State Smith, Joshua - Wofford College Smith, Steven - Southern Utah Sniewski, Luke - Idaho State Zimmerman, Kole - North Dakota State DIVISION II Callins, James - East Central Cangelosi, Cory - Central Arkansas Cooley, Brandon - Minnesota-Duluth Dunn, Jermaine - Virginia Union Fragale, Seth - Edinboro Frisbee, Raymond - Ashland Grace, Darryl - Central Missouri State Koch, Ryan - St. Cloud State Koester, Brandon - Tiffin Kratt, Roy - Winona State Lamberson, Josh - Northwest Missouri St. Lawrence, Charlie - Fayetteville State Looney, Joshua - Washburn Marr, James - Texas A&M - Kingsville McCoy, Patrick - West Texas A&M Neville, Jeremy - Pittsburg State Price, Lloyd - California University of PA Spankuch, Andrew - Southeastern Okla. State Vaughn, Timothy - Kentucky State Woodhead, Benjamin - Chadron State College DIVISION III Carlson, Andy - Puget Sound Cathcart, Peter - St. Olaf College Cochran, Grant - Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. Collings, Cameron - Whitworth College Connor, David - Thomas More College Coughlin, Timothy - Trinity College Darlage, Clayton - Franklin College Day, Andrew - Wheaton College (IL) Donaldson, Dwight - Linfield College Edwards, Chris - Washington & Jefferson Ellington, Matthew - Austin College George, Joe - Baldwin-Wallace College Good-Malloy, Nicholas - Salisbury Hadbavny, Adam - Westminster College (PA) Hammack, Andrew - Kenyon College Hamoy, Dustin - Ferrum College Hare, Benjamin - North Central College Hawn, Matt - Saint John's (MN) Kashnig, Casey - Earlham College Kessler, Benjamin - St. Thomas Knoblauch, Adam - Delaware Valley College Kuzniar, Aaron - Augustana College (IL) Lentz, Christopher - Frostburg State Leszczynski, Jim - Wisconsin-Whitewater Loiseau, Michael - Rowan Magoon, Patrick - Tufts Maimone, Santo - Case Western Reserve Manning, Thomas - Mount Union College Mikolaichik, Mike - Buffalo State College Parnell, Andrew - Bethel College (MN) Phillips, Douglas - John Carroll Rhone, Thomas - Randolph-Macon College Sanders, James - Johns Hopkins Satterfield, Darrell - Thiel College Schlack, Douglas - Widener Sleight, Travis - Olivet College Swartzentruber, Michael - Centre College Tamillow, Robert - Chicago Tanney, Mitch - Monmouth College (IL) Toboy, Nicholas - Kalamazoo College Venturino, Gerald - Moravian College Wiethoff, Ross - DePauw Ziegler, Justin - Ursinus College NAIA Emmert, Tyler - Carroll College (MT) Hemje, Mark - Hastings College Jones, Brett - William Jewell College Keller, Scott - Nebraska Wesleyan Labus, Garrett - Friends Rohrbough, Christopher - Georgetown College (KY) Scalmato, Vincent - Urbana Scheel, Evan - Malone College Schmidly, James - Evangel Smail, Justin - Ottawa Stroud, Ryan - Mid-American Nazarene Synowicki, John - Dana College Van Kley, Kurtis - Northwestern College (IA) Walsh, Brian - Jamestown College |
