Nate Leonard named 2014 National Football Foundation scholar-athlete

UTSA scholar-athlete Nate Leonard

By Kyle Stephens
Assistant Athletics Director for Communications

(Oct. 30, 2014) --UTSA student-athlete Nate Leonard was selected as one of 17 National Football Foundation (NFF) Scholar-Athletes, the organization and the College Football Hall of Fame announced on Thursday.

Presented by Fidelity Investments, Leonard and his fellow 16 honorees, the nation's best and brightest collegiate football players each win $18,000 postgraduate scholarships and will vie as finalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes the best scholar-athlete in the nation.

Leonard, who maintains a 3.99 GPA in physical education, was a 2013 second-team Academic All-American in addition to being named the 2013-2014 Conference USA Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and he is on track to graduate in May 2015.

A two-time Academic All-District and Academic All-Conference selection, the McKinney native is the only UTSA player to start all 42 contests in his career, registering a team-leading 70 knockdown blocks last season.

Through the first eight games of the season, the 6-foot, 280-pound center is second among UTSA's offensive linemen with 33 knockdown blocks while grading out at 77 percent. Also a 2014 Senior CLASS Award candidate, Leonard was a member of the preseason Dave Rimington Trophy watch list (nation's top center) and he earned preseason second-team all-conference accolades from Athlon Sports.

A leader on and off the field, Leonard was instrumental in the team's success last fall, as the Roadrunners won their last five outings en route to a 7-5 overall record and 6-2 mark in C-USA play.

Leonard received the 2013 UTSA Golden Feather Award given to UTSA students whose contributions reflect ideal student leadership. He also wrote a weekly blog for the UTSA Athletics website for the past two seasons after doing so for The Huffington Post in 2012.

He is coming off a junior campaign that saw him record a team-leading 70 pancakes while grading out at 82 percent. Leonard was a key part of an offensive line that did not commit a holding penalty during the season while helping the offense average 25.6 points, 417.8 total yards (175.4 rush/242.4 pass), 21.9 first downs and 32:24 possession time per contest.

His selection marks the second consecutive year that UTSA has had an NFF Scholar-Athlete, as Eric Soza was one of 16 players chosen last fall. This year's class was selected from a nationwide pool of 169 semifinalists from among all NCAA divisions and the NAIA.

"We are extremely proud to announce this year's National Scholar-Athlete Class," NFF President and CEO Steve Hatchell said. "These young men have an unrelenting commitment to excellence in all aspects of their lives, and they represent all that is right in college football. They members serve as living examples of our mission of building leaders through football, and they create an exceptionally worthy pool of candidates for the Campbell Trophy."

Launched in 1959, the NFF's Scholar-Athlete program is the first initiative in history to award scholar-athletes postgraduate scholarships for their combined athletics, academic and leadership abilities.

This year's class members finds themselves in good company, as past National Scholar-Athletes include former NFL standout Derrick Brooks (Florida State), USC Athletics Director Pat Haden (USC), actor Mark Harmon (UCLA), West Virginia Athletics Director Oliver Luck (West Virginia), NASA astronaut Leland Melvin (Richmond), former "Dateline NBC" anchor Stone Phillips (Yale) chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters Tournament, Billy Payne (Georgia), famed NFL quarterback Steve Young (BYU) and Heisman Trophy winners Doug Flutie (Boston College) and Tim Tebow (Florida).

"Jack Ford and the NFF Awards Committee did an excellent job in selecting this year's National Scholar-Athletes," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell winner) and Eli were NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "Selected from an impressive group of semifinalists, they should be extremely proud of their accomplishments, as they have undoubtedly distinguished themselves as some of the best student-athletes in the country. Each of these men is also a leader in his respective community, and we know that they have only begun to reach their potential."

Each member of the 2014 National Scholar-Athlete Class will travel to New York City to be honored on Dec. 9 during the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. The 25th recipient of the Campbell Trophy will be unveiled live at the event and the winner will be honored at the NFF board meeting and at a reception hosted by the New York Athletic Club the following day.

Named in honor of Bill Campbell (the chairman of Intuit, a former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal), the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and a $7,000 increase in postgraduate funds for a total scholarship of $25,000. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $10.7 million.

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 ever in the history of the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards program. Fidelity also helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes Initiative, which recognizes the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives at each of the institutions with an NFF Scholar-Athlete. As part of the initiative, the NFF will present each of the faculty representatives with a plaque and a $5,000 check from Fidelity Investments to support the academic support services for student-athletes at each school.

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a grade point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first-team player and demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The 169 semifinalists for the award were announced on Sept. 25 and 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.

In addition to the presentation of the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards and Campbell Trophy, the 57th NFF Annual Awards Dinner will include the induction of the 2014 College Football Hall of Fame Class and the presentation of several major awards, including the organization's highest honor, the NFF Gold Medal, and the NFF Distinguished American Award.

This story is republished courtesy of UTSA Athletics. You can also read the story on the UTSA Athletics website.

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