Youngstown State senior defensive tackle Steve Zaborsky (Mineral Ridge, Ohio/Austintown Fitch) has been named a semifinalist for the 2015 William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
Zaborsky is one of 135 student-athletes that the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame has chosen as semifinalists for this prestigious award. He is also one of only 23 student-athletes representing the FCS.
Zaborsky has had a strong start to his senior campaign in 2015. He has started all three games and been credited with nine total tackles on the season, including six solo stops. Against Robert Morris he had a career-high six total tackles, including five solos in the victory.
The NFF will announce 15 finalists on Oct. 29, 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.
"These 135 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton 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 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 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.
"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 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.
Zaborsky earned his degree from YSU in the spring in mechanical engineering.
