Wednesday, April 11, 2018
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

IRVING, Texas – A Pioneer Football League record 55 student-athletes were named to the 2018 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, released by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

The 2018 NFF Hampshire Honor Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers. An all-time high 1,251 players from a record-tying 302 schools qualified for membership in the society's 12th year.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF's National Scholar-Athlete program by greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year. The program further strengthens the organization's leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes at the 778 colleges and universities with football programs nationwide.

The 1,251 players honored in 2018 sets a new high water mark, eclipsing the previous record of 1,103 honorees in 2017. The 302 schools with members ties the previous mark also set in 2017.

The initiative has now honored 8,994 student-athletes since its inception, and the program has experienced growth every year in either members or school participation since its launch in 2007.

Butler was one of 18 schools had at least 10 honorees in 2018, joining Ashland (Ohio), Brown, Central (Iowa), Dartmouth, Hobart (N.Y.), Johns Hopkins (Md.), Kalamazoo (Mich.), Macalester (Minn.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), Redlands (Calif.), Rose-Hulman (Ind.), St. Thomas (Minn.), Wartburg (Iowa), Washington & Jefferson (Pa.), Washington U. in St. Louis (Mo.) and Yale.

Eight PFL schools had student-athletes that qualified for membership in the 2018 NFF Hampshire Honor Society. In addition to Butler's tally, Dayton saw nine student-athletes named while Campbell and Davidson had eight each. Drake (6), Marist (5), San Diego (5) and Stetson (3) also had student-athletes selected.

Butler University
Connor Andras
Jacob Balder
Danny Banks
Dylan Banks
Chad Burdo
Mike Cerone
Cord Collier
Duvante Lane
Jacob Lewis
Patrick Mosby
Isaak Newhouse

Campbell University
James Blackman
Mitchell Brown
Geoffrey Leins
Scott Miller
Ethan Pierson
Tyler Shirley
Brian Stryffeler
Zane Weekman

Davidson College
Ben Hart
Derek Jones
Taylor Mitchell
Conrad Mueller
Ryan Samuels
Brendan Simpkins
Trevor Smith
Austin Wells

University of Dayton
Jack Crain
Wes Hegemann
Alex Kenner
Gus Madden
Kevin Maloney
Nate Marotta
Griffin O'Gara
Mike Ruffolo
Christian Searles

Drake University
Tanner Evans
Ryan Lemke
Mike Maize
Kyrell Newell
Connor Ostrander
Brock Reichardt

Marist College
Chris Apicella
Marcellus Calhoun
Lawrence Dickens
Tyler Gagnon
Joe Giglio

University of San Diego
Jack Flatau
Zack Holland
Max Michaels
Kishan Patel
Justin Priest

Stetson University
Jake Bartha
Jordan Sabo
Austin Tyrrell