National Football Foundation Press Release (PDF)  |  NFF Website Full Announcement

IRVING, Texas – The National Football Foundation (NFF) and College Football Hall of Fame has announced Slippery Rock University receiver Henry Litwin as a member of the 2021 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments and one of just 13 national finalists from all levels of college football for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy®.
 
The Campbell Trophy®, which includes names like Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow on its list of former winners, is college football's premier scholar-athlete award that annually recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.
 
"We are extremely proud to announce the finalists for this year's Campbell Trophy®," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell Trophy® recipient) and Eli were NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "These young men have an unrelenting commitment to excellence in all aspects of their lives, and they represent all that is right in college football. As strong leaders in the vein of the trophy's namesake Bill Campbell, they all serve as living examples that the Future For Football is bright. We are excited to honor their hard work and outstanding leadership with postgraduate scholarships."
 
Litwin, who is the only NCAA Division II player in this year's National Scholar-Athlete Class, will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and an expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas to be recognized at the 2021 NFF Annual Awards Dinner in December, where he will share the stage with the 2020 and 2021 College Football Hall of Fame inductees. Members of those Hall of Fame classes that will be on stage with Litwin include Eric Dickerson, Tony Romo, Carson Palmer, Darren Sproles, Glenn Dorsey and Bob Stoops, among others.
 
"This is such an incredible honor for Henry, his family, Slippery Rock University and our program," said SRU head coach Shawn Lutz. "Henry is the ultimate example of what can happen when you work hard to achieve your goals. He walked on here, worked extremely hard and became a first team All-American and a captain on our football team and now he's getting recognized as one of the absolute best football players in the country. We are thrilled for him and can't wait to celebrate his accomplishments in Vegas."
 
Litwin becomes the second Slippery Rock player to ever be named a finalist for the Campbell Trophy®, joining Marcus Martin, who was a member of the 2017 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class.
 
Slippery Rock is the only school in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference to ever have a Campbell Trophy® finalist and is one of just two schools in the NCAA Division II's Super Region One with a finalist, as Ashland (Ohio) has one former honoree. The Rock are now one of just eight current NCAA Division II institutions to ever have multiple finalists.
 
Litwin is joined by 12 other players from all levels of college football as national finalists for the Campbell Trophy®, with the majority of the honorees coming from the Division I FBS level, including Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford, Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, Oklahoma defensive back Patrick Fields and West Virginia safety Sean Mahone.
 
Of the 13 finalists, Litwin is one of only two players that are two-time College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans. He is one of five finalists that are school record holders, one of three players that are members of national playoff teams and is one of five players that have been named All-Americans on the field. Litwin is the only player among the 13 finalists that falls into all of those categories.
 
In order to be eligible for the honor, student-athletes must be in their final year of eligibility, must own at least a 3.2 grade point average, must have outstanding football ability and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship.
 
Litwin earned his undergraduate degree in safety management with a minor in leadership from Slippery Rock in November of 2020, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a 3.66 GPA after completing 125 credit hours. He is currently enrolled in Slippery Rock's master's of business administration (MBA) program and carried a 4.0 GPA through 12 credits of his graduate work entering this fall semester.
 
The graduate student from Linesville, Pennsylvania has been recognized with numerous academic honors during his career. A four-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete, he was the 2018 PSAC Champion Scholar Award winner for owning the highest GPA among all players in the league title game. Litwin is one of just four players in Division II to be named first team CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in each of the last two years.
 
On the field, Litwin has gone from a walk-on that played special teams in his first year at SRU to one of the best receivers in the country with NFL scouts visiting The Rock to see him play. He earned All-America honors in 2019 after setting SRU single-season records for catches (103), receiving yards (1,509) and touchdowns (21) and has racked up 191 receptions for 3,036 yards and 37 touchdowns in less than three seasons in the starting lineup.
 
Litwin already owns the SRU career record for touchdown catches with 37, a number that also leads all active players in Division II currently. His 191 catches and 3,036 yards are both No. 2 all-time at SRU. He is one of just two players in SRU history to top the 3,000-yard receiving mark and is currently the only active NCAA Division II player to tally 3,000 receiving yards over the last three seasons.
 
This season, Litwin leads The Rock and the PSAC with 686 receiving yards while hauling in eight touchdowns. The team captain has guided No. 15 SRU to a 7-1 record this fall and an overall record of 31-5 over the last three seasons since he broke into the offensive starting lineup.
 
The 13 finalists for the Campbell Trophy® were selected from a list of 176 total semifinalists that were announced last month. The Campbell Trophy® winner will be announced live on stage at the NFF Awards Dinner at the ARIA Resort and Casino December 7. The winner will see his scholarship increased to $25,000 and he will be recognized on the Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN, as well as on the field during the College Football Playoff National Championship in January.
 
2021 CAMPBELL TROPHY® FINALISTS
• Troy Andersen, LB – Montana State (3.91 GPA - Agricultural Business)
• Thomas Booker, DE – Stanford (3.88 GPA - Economics & Communications)
• Mike Caliendo, OL – Western Michigan (3.90 GPA - Biomedical Sciences)
• Sean Clifford, QB – Penn State (3.45 GPA - Public Relations)
• Cameron Dukes, QB – Lindsey Wilson [KY] (3.89 GPA - Physical Education & Health)
• Patrick Fields, DB – Oklahoma (3.82 GPA - Accounting)
• Matt Henningsen, DE – Wisconsin (4.00 GPA - Electrical Engineering)
• Aidan Hutchinson, DE – Michigan (3.54 GPA - Applied Exercise Science)
• Joshua King, LB - U.S. Merchant Marine Academy [NY] (3.73 GPA - Marine Engineering)
• Charlie Kolar, TE – Iowa State (3.99 GPA - Mechanical Engineering)
• Henry Litwin, WR – Slippery Rock [PA] (3.66 GPA - Safety Management)
• Sean Mahone, S – West Virginia (3.60 GPA - Management Information Systems)
• Grant Morgan, LB – Arkansas (3.66 GPA - Kinesiology)
 
ABOUT THE WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY®
The trophy is named in honor of the late Bill Campbell, an All-Ivy League player and the captain of Columbia's 1961 Ivy League championship team who found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from Columbia football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop and manage talented executives – all lessons learned on the gridiron – proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.
 
As the CEO and chairman of Intuit, Campbell's strong leadership and unique talent in building teams allowed him to become one of the most influential individuals in Silicon Valley. Using the lessons of the gridiron he mentored Steve Jobs of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Sundar Pichai and Eric Schmidt of Google, Scott Cook and Brad Smith of Intuit, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins, Dick Costolo at Twitter, Diane Greene of VMWare and countless others. His contributions have been captured in a book titled "The Trillion Dollar Coach," and during his lifetime, he affectionally became known as the "Coach of Silicon Valley."
 
Campbell joined the NFF Board in 1978 while he was still a coach at Columbia, and he continued to serve with distinction until his passing in 2016. In 2004, the NFF recognized Campbell's contributions and accomplishments by presenting him with the NFF Gold Medal, the organization's highest honor. In 2009, the NFF renamed college football's premier scholar-athlete award as The William V. Campbell Trophy® as an inspiration to future generations.
 
The past recipients of the Campbell Trophy® include:
 
1990 – Chris Howard (Air Force)
1991 – Brad Culpepper (Florida)
1992 – Jim Hansen (Colorado)
1993 – Thomas Burns (Virginia)
1994 – Rob Zatechka (Nebraska)
1995 – Bobby Hoying (Ohio State)
1996 – Danny Wuerffel (Florida)
1997 – Peyton Manning (Tennessee)
1998 – Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia)
1999 – Chad Pennington (Marshall)
2000 – Kyle Vanden Bosch (Nebraska)
2001 – Joaquin Gonzalez (Miami [FL])
2002 – Brandon Roberts (Washington U. in St. Louis [MO])
2003 – Craig Krenzel (Ohio State)
2004 – Michael Munoz (Tennessee)
2005 – Rudy Niswanger (LSU)
2006 – Brian Leonard (Rutgers)
2007 – Dallas Griffin (Texas)
2008 – Alex Mack (California)
2009 – Tim Tebow (Florida)
2010 – Sam Acho (Texas)
2011 – Andrew Rodriguez (Army West Point)
2012 – Barrett Jones (Alabama)
2013 – John Urschel (Penn State)
2014 – David Helton (Duke)
2015 – Ty Darlington (Oklahoma)
2016 – Zach Terrell (Western Michigan)
2017 – Micah Kiser (Virginia)
2018 – Christian Wilkins (Clemson)
2019 – Justin Herbert (Oregon)
2020 – Brady White (Memphis)

 
 
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