Dubuque's Michael Zweifel was named a finalist for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation.
The finalists, who receive the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Awards, will be awarded with an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. The winner of the Campbell Trophy will get a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship.
The award, once known as the Draddy Trophy, has gone to a Division III player just once, when Washington University's Brandon Roberts won the 2002 award.
This year's class has a 3.81 cumulative GPA. Zweifel has a 3.9.
Head and shoulders the most prolific wide receiver in Division
III, Zweifel has used the same work ethic that has produced his
on-field success to secure an academic record rivaled by few.
Hailing from Whitewater, Wis., Zweifel is a Dubuque Spartan
Achievement Award recipient and a two-time Academic All-Iowa
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honoree. He was named the
winner of Dubuque's Presidential Academic Student-Athlete
Award for the student-athlete with the highest GPA across all
sports.
Zweifel comfortably leads the nation in all major receiving
categories with 102 grabs for 1,517 yards and 20 touchdowns,
putting him on pace to shatter NCAA Division III single-season
records. He leads the country in receptions per game by nearly two
grabs per outing (12.75), and holds a 40-yard edge over his closest
competitor in receiving yards per game (187.63). He is a two-time
Second Team All-American, a 2010 D3football.com Senior Classic
First Team All-American, a 2009 D3football.com First Team All-West
Region, and a three-time All-IIAC honoree. Zweifel led Division III
with 152.2 receiving yards per game and placed second with 11.1
catches per game in 2009, and he currently holds nine Dubuque and
IIAC records. In one season at UW-River Falls, Zweifel set six
single-season records, including the NCAA record for catches by a
freshman with 97 receptions.
A team captain as a junior and a senior, Zweifel ranks second
among all divisions in career receptions and is just 11 catches
away from tying the all-time mark of 436 catches for his career. He
trails Scott Pingel of Westminster, Mo. (1996-99) who has overall
record along with yardage record at 6,108 yards. Zweifel has 5,581
yards for his career and enters this week tied for 17th in career
touchdown receptions with 50 touchdowns.
Zweifel represented all IIAC athletes at the NCAA Student
Leadership Conference, and he annually leads the Spartan football
team on a community park clean-up effort. A finalist for the 2010
Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, he is the chair of the Senior Gift
committee; has facilitated Kids Athletics Day in the Greater
Dubuque community; and has helped with Special Olympian Day on
campus.
"I'm excited for our football team," said coach Stan Zweifel,
Michael's father. "It's a direct reflection of success from our
team and Michael's individual achievements. Very few people realize
how much work he has done in and out of the classroom to win this
award which attributes to his accomplishments."
Each finalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship at
the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6 at the Waldorf=Astoria
in New York City, and one of the 16 will be announced as the 22nd
recipient of the William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an
individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation.
Named in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former
player and head coach at Columbia University, and the 2004
recipient of the NFFs Gold Medal, the award comes with a
25-pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship. A
total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded that
evening.
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each,
candidates must be a senior or graduate student in their final year
of eligibility, have a grade point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0
scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player and
have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The 127
semifinalists for the award were announced on Sept. 29, and 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.
In addition to the presentation of the NFF National
Scholar-Athlete Awards and the William V. Campbell Trophy, the 54th
NFF Annual Awards Dinner will include the induction of the 2011
College Football Hall of Fame Class and the presentation of several
major awards, including the organizations highest honor, the
Gold Medal, to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and
the Distinguished American Award to world-renowned heart surgeon
Archie Roberts.