Oct. 2, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior linebacker James Morris is one of 170 candidates for the 2013 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Awards.
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 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 will vie as finalists for the 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy. Launched in 1959, the NFF scholar-athlete program became the first initiative in history to award post-graduate based on both a player’s academic and athletic accomplishments.
Morris, a Solon, Iowa native, has been in Iowa’s starting line-up since early in his freshman season. He has totaled 324 career tackles to rank 15th on the career chart. He was named Big Ten defensive Player of the Week for his play in Iowa’s win at Minnesota last Saturday. He is on watch lists for the Bednarik Award, the Lott IMPACT Trophy and the Nagurski Award.
As a political science major, Morris has twice earned academic all-Big Ten honors. He was named to the Capital One District VI Academic All-America Team in 2012, while also being presented the Third House Scholar Award by The University of Iowa political science department. Morris is also one of six seniors named to the 2013 Iowa Leadership Group.
Iowa (4-1, 1-0) celebrates Homecoming this weekend, hosting Michigan State (3-1, 0-0) Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN2).