Friday, May 4, 2012

DALLAS – Thirty-nine Pioneer Football League student-athletes were among the 721 named to the 2012 National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, the organization announced Thursday.

The 2012 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. A total of 721 players from 232 schools qualified for membership in the society's sixth year, marking this year's class as the largest since the program's creation in 2007.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF's current National Scholar-Athlete program 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 who play football at the more than 700 college and universities with football programs nationwide. Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided the endowment to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as NFF chairman from 1994-2006. He currently serves the organization as a chairman emeritus. Each player awarded with membership in this year's Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their achievement.

Qualifications for membership in the NFF Hampshire Honor Society include:

• Being a starter or a significant substitute in one's last year of eligibility at an accredited NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, or an NAIA college or university;
• Achieving a 3.2 cumulative grade point average throughout entire course of undergraduate study; and
• Meeting all NCAA-mandated progress towards degree requirements and graduation.

The 39 PFL student-athletes named to the 2012 Hampshire Society were:

Nick Caldicott,  Butler University
Andrew Huck,  Butler University
Grant Hunter,  Butler University
Jordan Koopman,  Butler University
David Lang,  Butler University
Pete Mattingly,  Butler University
Jack McKenna,  Butler University
Jeff Poss,  Butler University
Michael Wilson,  Butler University
Joe Cline,  Davidson College
Chase Culbertson,  Davidson College
Tyler Hammett,  Davidson College
Matt Heavner,  Davidson College
Richard Lockridge,  Davidson College
Ellis Martin,  Davidson College
Morgan Popham,  Davidson College
Josh Yost,  Davidson College
Brian Bailin,  University of Dayton
Sean Belanger,  University of Dayton
Matthew Brockberg,  University of Dayton
Justin Griffis,  University of Dayton
Tyler Hujik,  University of Dayton
Alex Johnston,  University of Dayton
Devon Langhorst,  University of Dayton
Jamie Mewhinney,  University of Dayton
Jared Phillips,  University of Dayton
Dan Prindle,  University of Dayton
Lewis Savisky,  University of Dayton
Tyler Shutz,  University of Dayton
Charles Vasey,  University of Dayton
Steven Wirkus,  University of Dayton
Michael Lahart,  Drake University
Desmond Cox,  Morehead State University
Ronnie McDermott,  Morehead State University
Christian Fetters,  University of San Diego
Nick Scudellari,  University of San Diego
Nate Blair,  Valparaiso University
Grant Bushong,  Valparaiso University
Bobby Wysocki,  Valparaiso University