COLUMBUS, Ohio – This past week Ohio State’s Jordan Fuller, a two-time senior captain for the Buckeyes and the team leader among current players in tackles (169) and solo tackles (129), was nominated for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, which is awarded to the outstanding senior scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame. The winner is chosen in December from a list of 12-15 scholar-athletes selected by the NFF Awards Committee, each of whom will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship.
Fuller, from Old Tappan, N.J., will be vying to become Ohio State’s 22nd NFF National Scholar-Athlete, and its third winner of the Campbell Trophy, after Bobby Hoying (1995) and Craig Krenzel (2003) previously won the award when it was the Vincent dePaul Draddy Award. Only Nebraska, with 23 NFF Scholar-Athlete award winners, has more national scholar-athletes than Ohio State.
Most NFF National Scholar-Athletes
23 – Nebraska
21 – Ohio State
18 – Notre Dame
18 – Penn State
16 – Army
13 – Georgia
13 – USC
12 – Stanford
12 – Yale
11 – Texas
Criteria for the award is rigorous, and includes a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.20, outstanding football ability, superior academic application and performance and exemplary school leadership and community citizenship. Fuller is outstanding in all four categories.
Fuller took part in the Eugene D. Smith Leadership Institute this summer as a “Bucks Go Pro” intern with the Anomaly Sports Group. He was a sports law intern and chose that area to “better understand the business side of sports.”
He has also worked the Columbus City Schools Special Olympics and the Football Special Skills Invitational. He spoke at a Celebration for Martin Luther King in January and this summer he was a team rep at Big Ten Conference media days.
This past Saturday against Florida Atlantic: Fuller was back to his usual ways of leading the Buckeyes in tackles with seven.
“Jordan Fuller is first class,” said Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Jeff Hafley. “He’s respectable. He’s smart. He’s engaged. He has the respect of everyone on the team. He is a quiet leader, but when he has to say something, he does and everyone listens. You can always use him as an example, in terms of how hard he practices, how deliberate he practices and how he always does the right thing.”
Ohio State’s 21 NFF National Scholar-Athletes
2015 Jacoby Boren
2008 Brian Robiskie
2003 Craig Krenzel
1999 Ahmed Plummer
1996 Greg Bellisari
1995 Bobby Hoying
1994 Joey Galloway
1992 Greg Smith
1990 Greg Frey
1989 Joe Staysniak
1985 Mike Lanese
1984 Dave Crecelius
1983 John Frank
1982 Joe Smith
1979 Jim Laughlin
1975 Brian Baschnagel
1973 Randy Gradishar
1970 Rex Kern
1968 David Foley
1965 Willard Sander
1964 Arnold Chonko