IRVING, Texas — Tennessee senior defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. has been named as one of 181 semifinalists for the 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy®, presented by Fidelity Investments®, as announced on Wednesday by The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
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.
“These 181 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton Manning (Campbell Trophy® winner) and Eli Manning 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.”
Kelly is on the watch list for the 2017 Lott IMPACT Trophy and a nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy. He was also a nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team. As a Knoxville native, Kelly takes a lot of pride in serving the local community. His community service activities have centered on helping children. From cheering on patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to mentoring local fourth-graders at Lonsdale Elementary to serving others via the Emerald Youth Foundation and Read Across America, Kelly is committed to inspiring local youth. He is a member of the 100 Black Men of Knoxville, which serves as a catalyst to empower minority youth to reach their full potential. He has also served as a speaker at local churches and elementary schools.
Prior to the 2016 season, Kelly changed his jersey number from No. 6 to No. 24 in honor of the late Zaevion Dobson. Dobson was a local high school football star who died heroically shielding his friends from gunfire in December of 2015. Kelly is close with the Dobson family and also took part in Zaveion Dobson Day of Service and Project Elevate’s Hero Day on Jan. 24, 2016, which promoted serving others and acts of kindness.
In addition to Kelly’s work in the community, he is also a standout in the classroom. Kelly is majoring Biological Science with a concentration in Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology. He earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 honors in 2016. Kelly was named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2015 and 2016 and he was also named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll for the 2014-15 school year.
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.
“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.”
Nominated by their schools, 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.
Launched in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program became the first initiative in history to award postgraduate scholarships based on both a player’s academic and athletic accomplishments, and it has recognized 828 outstanding individuals since its inception. The Campbell Trophy®, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program’s prestige, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.
In 2011, the NFF and Fidelity Investments launched a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education. As part of the initiative, Fidelity became the first presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program. In 2014, Fidelity became the presenting sponsor of the Campbell Trophy®.
Fidelity also helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with an NFF National Scholar-Athlete. As part of the initiative, the NFF presents each of the faculty representatives with a plaque, and Fidelity donates $5,000 for the academic support services at each school with a total of $440,000 distributed from 2011-16.
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); Oklahoma’s Ty Darlington (2015); and Western Michigan’s Zach Terrell (2016).
2017 NFF William V. Campbell Trophy® Semifinalists Notes
- 59th Year of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Program
- 181 Nominations
- 3.59 Average GPA
- 8 Nominees with a perfect 4.0 GPA
- 40 Nominees with a 3.8 GPA or better
- 60 Nominees with a 3.7 GPA or Better
- 27 Academic All-America Selections
- 114 Captains
- 76 All-Conference Picks
- 19 All-Americans
- 10 Members of the 2017 AFCA Good Works Team
- 71 Nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
- 37 Nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
- 30 Nominees from NCAA Division II
- 33 Nominees from NCAA Division III
- 10 Nominees from the NAIA
- 102 Offensive Players
- 67 Defensive Players
- 12 Special Teams Players
Garth is set to release a five-part autobiography in the coming months.
