Oct. 25, 2007
IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior linebacker Mike Klinkenborg has been selected as a 2007 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. The announcement was made today by the NFF and College Football Hall of Fame.
Klinkenborg will be the recipient of an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship and, as a National Scholar-Athlete, becomes a finalist for the prestigious Draddy Trophy. If he is selected winner of the Draddy Trophy, the scholarship increases to $25,000. He is one of 15 finalists.
Klinkenborg will attend the Football Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Dec. 4th.
Klinkenborg, a 6-2, 240-pounder from Rock Rapids, IA, was a second team all-Big Ten selection last year when he had 129 tackles. That total was the 17th highest in the Iowa record books. Mike is a member of Iowa’s leadership council and was a first-team Academic all-American in 2006. He is majoring in elementary education and has a 3.95 grade-point average.
Mike becomes the fifth Iowa player to win this prestigious scholarship. Other recipients are John Hendricks (1968), Bobby Elliott (1975), Mike Flagg (1987) and Derek Rose (1998).
“Mike has done an outstanding job for us, on and off the field,” said Head Coach Kirk Ferentz. “He epitomizes everything that’s good about college football today. I can’t put into words how proud we are of his winning this award and his other achievements at the University of Iowa.”
Click HERE for the Big Ten Network home page.