Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, senior quarterback named a National Scholar-Athlete candidate by National Football Foundation
NFF Announces Impressive List of 181 William Campbell Trophy Semifinalists
EASTON, Mass. (September 29, 2017) - For the fifth straight year, the Stonehill College football program has placed one of its top student-athletes among the semifinalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments, as the National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Football Hall of Fame announced its 2017 National Scholar-Athlete candidates.
Senior quarterback Matt Foltz (Mount Joy, Pennsylvania/The Hill School) is among the impressive list of 181 semifinalists across all levels of college football, including 30 from NCAA Division II and one of three from the Northeast-10 Conference. Foltz has earned a 3.72 cumulative grade point average as an economics major at Stonehill, with a minor in sport science and society. The two-year captain is a two-time NE10 Academic All-Conference selection, and been named to both the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all six semesters to date.
The six-time Dean's List student at the College has been inducted into the Omicron Delta Epsilon honor society and recently completed an internship at Harvard University this past summer, where he tutored students enrolled in its summer school academic program. Foltz held group and individual tutoring sessions for Harvard students enrolled in micro and macroeconomics courses. He is also a Teaching Assistant in the economics department at Stonehill.
Foltz has started all four games for Stonehill this fall and ranks fourth among NE10 leaders with 250.8 passing yards per game and a 59.7-percent completion percentage (83-for-139), while ranking third with nine touchdown passes and fifth with a 137.4 efficiency rating. He has passed for over 1,000 yards (1,003) for the third straight year and chipped in with two rushing touchdowns as well. Foltz ranks 20th nationally for points responsible for (68), 25th for passing touchdowns and completions per game, and 34th for passing yardage
Foltz earned NE10 Offensive Player of the Week honors for the fourth time in his career following the Skyhawks season-opening 44-28 win at Bloomsburg (Pa.) University when he completed 22-of-35 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for a fourth.
Foltz has started all 28 games played over his Stonehill career and is one of just two quarterbacks in program history to pass for over 5,000-yards, ranking second all-time with 5,845 yards and 47 touchdowns. His career completion percentage of 60.3-percent is on pace to set a new program mark, while his 523 career completions are just 22 shy of the all-time record. Foltz's 13 career rushing touchdowns are tied for ninth all-time.
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on November 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 December 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 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.
Stonehill (2-2, 1-2 NE-10) is back in action on Saturday, when it visits Merrimack College for an NE10 matchup at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks next home game is Saturday, October 21, when it hosts Bentley University, as part of Family Weekend at the College, at 6 p.m.
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