Austin Peay State University Football has Three Govs earn National Football Foundation Society honors

APSU Sports Information

Dallas, TX – Three Austin Peay State University football players are part of the 2015 National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, recognizing college football players from all divisions who maintain a 3.2 GPA or better.

Qualifications for membership in the NFF National Honor Society include: being a starter or a significant substitute in one’s last year of eligibility at a 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 toward degree requirements.

Branch is a health and human performance major with a 3.54 grade-point average. Campbell boasts a 3.32 GPA with a major in interdisciplinary studies and a minor in professional education. Sexton possesses a 3.31 in health and human performance with a professional education minor. The trio combined for 19 spots on the Athletics Director’s Honor Roll and five Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognitions during their Austin Peay careers.

Branch, Campbell and Sexton are the 19th, 20th and 21st Governors to be honored since the award’s inception in 2007. Seven Governors were honored in 2014, including Sexton’s older brother, Jared Sexton.

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 who play football at the 772 colleges and universities with football programs nationwide.

The initiative has honored 5,744 student-athletes since its inception, and the program has experienced growth every year in either members or school participation since its launch in 2007. The 278 schools represented in 2015 is a new high water mark, eclipsing the 267 schools in 2014. The total of 817 players in the 2015 class is the second-most in the program’s history, only 21 behind the 838 honored last year.

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.

The Hampshire Honor Society represents a powerful component in the organization’s rich history as an innovator in promoting the scholar-athlete ideal, which began in 1959 with the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Launched with a donation from Hall of Fame coach Earl “Red” Blaik, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments, became the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on a player’s combined academic success, football performance and community leadership.

Since its inception, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program has awarded $10.7 million to 804 top scholars and community leaders.