Oct. 3, 2013
DALLAS, TX - Johns Hopkins senior strong safety John Arena (Bryn Mawr, PA/St. Joe's Prep) has been named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy and Postgraduate Scholarship. Arena carries a 4.0 cumulative grade point average and will graduate in December with a degree in neuroscience. He plans to attend medical school next year.
A record 170 semifinals from all five classifications of college football (FBS, FCS, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA) were named after being nominated by administrators at each of their respective institutions. Candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of 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.
A team-captain this season, Arena earned First Team CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America honors and Second Team All-Centennial Conference honors last season. He is Johns Hopkins' active career leader in tackles with 129 and also counts 16.5 tackles for losses, 6.5 sacks and four interceptions to his credit. He has played in all 38 games in his career and has helped the Blue Jays to a 32-6 record, three Centennial Conference titles and two trips to the NCAA Playoffs since arriving at Homewood.
"The NFF would like to personally congratulate each of the nominees as well as their schools on this tremendous honor," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "We are extremely proud to highlight each semifinalist's achievements, which show that football players can balance between academics and athletics at the highest level. There is no question that the NFF Awards Committee will have an incredibly difficult task in selecting the finalists from among this esteemed group."
The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 16 recipients, and the results will be announced via a national press release on Thursday, October 31. Each recipient will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and they will vie as finalists for the 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy. Each member of the 2013 National Scholar-Athlete Class will also travel to New York City to be honored Dec. 10 during the 56th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. One member of the class will also be announced live at the event as the winner of the William V. Campbell Trophy.
Named in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, 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 increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total post-graduate scholarship of $25,000. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $10.4 million.
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