COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football senior TE Sean Culkin (Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.) is one of 65 players from college football’s Bowl Subdivision to be named a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, as announced Wednesday by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation and is prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club.

Named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, former 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. This year’s postgraduate scholarships will push the program’s all-time distribution to more than $11.1 million.

Culkin is nominated for the award as a business administration major who is playing with his degree after graduating in the spring of 2016. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in education, counseling & psychology. He is a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and has devoted his time to various different organizations in the Mid-Missouri community. He has worked with the Special Olympics, local children’s camps and has visited children in the hospital. His Mission work was recognized by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey during SEC Media Days as well, where Culkin was one of Mizzou’s three participants in July.

“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.

— Mizzou Athletics —