Overland Park, Kan. — Outland Trophy candidate Jake Matthews of Texas A&M was named one of 30 candidates for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award®, which honors notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
Matthews, a senior from Missouri City, Texas, is a returning first-team All-Southeastern Conference and All-America offensive tackle for the Aggies. Matthews was a mainstay of the Aggies’ 2012 offensive front that cleared the way for Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel. The Aggies led the SEC in rushing, passing, total and scoring offense last year.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Of the 30 candidates, 12 have grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. Seven are all-Americans and 12 were all-conference selections in 2012. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the football bowl season in early January.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
# # # #
Football Candidates
Lamin Barrow, LSU
Chris Borland, Wisconsin
Derek Carr, Fresno State
Steven Clark, Auburn
Ross Cockrell, Duke
Vincenzo D’Amato, California
Alden Darby, Arizona State
Jake Fischer, Arizona
Andrew Furney, Washington State
Dave Harding, Duke
Greg Heban, Indiana
Gabe Ikard, Oklahoma
Will Jackson, Georgia Tech
Jacob Karam, Memphis
Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois
Taylor Martinez, Nebraska
Jake Matthews, Texas A&M
AJ McCarron, Alabama
Jack Mewhort, Ohio State
Alex Page, South Alabama
Cairo Santos, Tulane
Nathan Scheelhaase, Illinois
Eric Soza, Texas-San Antonio
Carey Spear, Vanderbilt
Will Sutton, Arizona State
Travis Swanson, Arkansas
John Urschel, Penn State
Kyle Van Noy, BYU
Avery Williamson, Kentucky
Ty Zimmerman, Kansas State
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics