Edwards Named Semifinalist for 2016 Campbell Trophy

IRVING, Texas – Duke redshirt senior safety DeVon Edwards has been named a semifinalist for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced Wednesday.

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 2016 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity. One of the finalists will be named the winner of the William V. Campbell Trophy at the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6 in New York City, and his postgraduate scholarship will be increased to $25,000.

In December of 2014, Duke won the first William V. Campbell Trophy in program history as former linebacker David Helton took home the prestigious honor.

Edwards is a three-time All-America selection by Sports Illustrated (2013-15) and one of two active players who earned both All-America and Academic All-America honors in 2015, joining Stanford's Christian McCaffrey. Edwards suffered a career-ending knee injury during Duke's 38-35 victory at Notre Dame.

Edwards has been a three-time All-ACC pick by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association and was a Freshman All-America by Sporting News, Phil Steele and Athlon Sports in 2013. Prior to the start of the 2016 campaign, he was named a team captain and placed on the watch lists for the Bednarik Award, Wuerffel Award and Hornung Award.

A native of Covington, Ga., Edwards ended his 44-game playing career with 327 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 quarterback sacks, five interceptions, six caused fumbles, 21 pass breakups and eight QB pressures. In addition, he returned 74 kickoffs for 2,060 yards for a 27.84 average and six touchdowns.

In the classroom, Edwards graduated from Duke in May of 2016 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a certificate in markets and management to go along with a 3.353 GPA. He owns a 3.600 cumulative graduate school GPA as he is pursuing a degree in liberal studies.

"These 156 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli 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."

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. This year's postgraduate scholarships will push the program's all-time distribution to more than $11.1 million.

"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."

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 816 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 $380,000 distributed from 2011-15.

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 Helton (2014); and Oklahoma's Ty Darlington (2015).

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Edwards Named Semifinalist for 2016 Campbell Trophy

Players Mentioned

DeVon Edwards

David Helton

Duke information

Edwards Named Semifinalist for 2016 Campbell Trophy

Players Mentioned

DeVon Edwards

David Helton

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