IRVING, Texas -- On Wednesday, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced Washington & Jefferson College senior Alex Keith (Hartville, Ohio/Lake) as one of 156 semifinalists for the 2022 William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football's premier scholar-athlete award. 

Celebrating its 33rd year, the Campbell Trophy® recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. Keith is one of just 29 semifinalists from NCAA Division III Football.
 
Keith, a two-time All-PAC selection, has excelled on both the gridiron and in the classroom during his time at W&J. Keith has twice been selected as an Academic All-America Second Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Keith possesses a 3.90 cumulative grade-point average entering his final semester of undergraduate studies at W&J. Additionally, Keith was chosen as a nominee last fall for the MayoClinic Comeback Player of the Year award.

Keith has totaled 126 tackles, 35 tackles for loss, and 19 sacks and in 32 career games. He posted a breakout season in 2019 when he finished with 54 tackles, 18.0 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. Alex has helped W&J to the postseason three times in his collegiate career. The Presidents earned a Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship in 2018 and trips to the 2019 ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl and the 2021 ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl. 

This fall Keith has been a catalyst for one of the top defensive lines in Division III football. Keith has 6.5 sacks, a total that ranks as second most in the PAC. W&J currently leads all of Division III with 22 sacks (5.25 per game).  

Some of Keith's leadership activities include presenting at W&J's annual Symposium on Democracy, where he presented his findings about and proposed solutions to hate speech in contemporary America. Keith has served as an organic chemistry lab aid where he prepared lab materials and assisted students and professor during lab activities. 

A Merck-scholarship-funded clinical research intern at Pain Diagnostics and Interventional Care (PDIC), Keith spent the summer of 2021 studying the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus—a bacteria that increases the risk of surgical site infections) in spinal cord stimulation patients. Now, he's received the President's Choice Award from the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA—the world's largest pain medicine organization) for his abstract on that work, "Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus colonization in spinal cord stimulator patients." Keith retrospectively reviewed 232 spinal cord stimulator surgical patient EHRs to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and to identify specific at-risk patient populations. He developed abstracts which were accepted to the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) and American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) – ASRA abstract was conferred the President's Choice Award for Best Abstract. Keith prepared a manuscript, which was accepted for submission to the International Neuromodulation Society (INS) and presented findings during main poster session at NANS 2022 annual meeting in Orlando, FL (January 2022). 
 
 
2022 WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY® SEMIFINALISTS NOTES

• 33rd year of the William V. Campbell Trophy®
• 64th year of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments
• 156 Semifinalists
• 3.62 Average GPA
• 93 Nominees who have already earned their bachelor's degrees
• 6 Nominees who have earned a master's degree
• 4 Nominees with a perfect 4.0 GPA
• 42 Nominees with a 3.8 GPA or better
• 60 Nominees with a 3.7 GPA or better
• 20 Academic All-America selections
• 97 Captains
• 23 All-Americans
• 81 All-Conference picks

"These 156 impressive candidates truly represent the scholar-athlete ideal," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell Trophy® winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "During the past seven decades, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards have recognized 891 college football players who excelled as the best our great sport has to offer. This year's semifinalists build on the tradition, further illustrating the power of football in developing the next generation of influential leaders."
 
The NFF will announce 12-14 finalists on Oct. 26, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2022 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 6, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports.

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of playing eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.

2022 Campbell Trophy® semifinalists by division and position:

• 73 Nominees from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
• 37 Nominees from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
• 13 Nominees from NCAA Division II
• 29 Nominees from NCAA Division III
• 4 Nominees from the NAIA
• 72 Offensive Players
• 65 Defensive Players
• 19 Special Teams Players

 

2022 WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY® SEMIFINALISTS

 
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
Alabama - Darrian Dalcourt
Appalachian State - Tyler Bird
Arkansas - Trey Knox
Auburn - Anders Carlson
Baylor - Dillon Doyle
Boise State - John Ojukwu
Bowling Green - Matt McDonald
Brigham Young - Clark Barrington
Buffalo - Alex McNulty
California - Matthew Cindric
Central Michigan - Robi Stuart
Clemson - K.J. Henry
Colorado - Daniel Arias
Duke - DeWayne Carter
Eastern Michigan - Dylan Drummond
Florida State - Wyatt Rector
Georgia - Jack Podlesny
Georgia State - Seth Glausier
Georgia Tech - Dylan Leonard
Illinois - Alex Pihlstrom
Indiana - Beau Robbins
Iowa - Jack Campbell
Iowa State - Jared Rus
Kansas - Sam Burt
Kansas State - Adrian Martinez
Kentucky - Colin Goodfellow
Liberty - Cooper McCaw
Memphis - Quindell Johnson
Miami (FL) - Lou Hedley
Michigan - Jake Moody
Middle Tennessee - Jordan Palmer
Mississippi State - Austin Williams
Missouri - Barrett Banister
Navy - John Marshall
Nebraska - Travis Vokolek
North Carolina State - Tim McKay
Northern Illinois - Michael Kennedy
Northwestern - Charlie Mangieri
Notre Dame - Josh Lugg
Ohio State - Bradley Robinson
Oklahoma - Drake Stoops
Oklahoma State - Tom Hutton
Old Dominion - Zack Kuntz
Oregon - Alex Forsyth
Oregon State - Jack Colletto
Penn State - Jonathan Sutherland
Pittsburgh - Habakkuk Baldonado
Rice - Wiley Green
Rutgers - Adam Korsak
San Jose State - Tre Jenkins
SMU - Tanner Mordecai
South Carolina - Jovaughn Gwyn
South Florida - Brad Cecil
Southern California - Nick Figueroa
Stanford - Walter Rouse
Syracuse - Dakota Davis
TCU - Dominic DiNunzio
Tennessee - Paxton Brooks
Texas - Roschon Johnson
Texas at San Antonio - Ahofitu Maka
Texas State - Russell Baker
Texas Tech - Marquis Waters
Troy - Austin Stidham
Tulane - Nick Anderson
UCF - Alex Ward
UCLA - Shea Pitts
Utah - R.J. Hubert
Utah State - Chandler Dolphin
Virginia - Brendan Farrell
Wake Forest - Michael Jurgens
Washington - Edefuan Ulofoshio
Washington State - Brennan Jackson
Western Michigan - Dylan Deatherage
 
 
Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
Brown - Lucas Ferraro
Bucknell - Brent Jackson
Columbia - Stewart Newblatt
Cornell - Jake Stebbins
Dartmouth - Nick Howard
Davidson - Bradyn Oakley
Dayton - Jake Chisholm
Eastern Illinois - Isaiah Hill
Fordham - Ryan Greenhagen
Georgetown - Mac Hollensteiner
Harvard - Truman Jones
Holy Cross - Peter Oliver
Houston Christian - Brennan Young
Jacksonville State - Zack Cangelosi
Lamar - Luke Wallis
Maine - Michael Gerace
Marist - Mike Arrington
Montana - Robby Hauck
New Hampshire - Niko Kvietkus
Nicholls - Glen Thurmond
Norfolk State - Marquis Hall
North Dakota - Cade Peterson
Northern Arizona - Anthony Sweeney
Northwestern State - Kaleb Fletcher
Princeton - Michael Ruttlen Jr.
Sacramento State - Abel Ordaz
South Dakota State - Reece Winkelman
St. Thomas - Seth Bickett
Stetson - Ethan Hull
Stonehill - David Satkowski
Stony Brook - Kyle Nunez
Tennessee Tech - Seth Carlisle
Texas A&M-Commerce - Michael Noble
UC Davis - Jayce Smalley
William & Mary - Carlton Fowler
Yale - Oso Ifesinachukwu
Youngstown State - Griffin Hoak
 
 
Division II
Ashland (OH) - Austin Brenner
Benedict (SC) - Ja'Ron Kilpatrick
Bentley (MA) - Jailen Branch
California (PA) - Noel Brouse
Colorado State Pueblo - Max Gonzales
Harding (AR) - Grant Fitzhugh
Minnesota State - Jalen Sample
Ouachita Baptist (AR) - Peyton Stafford
Pittsburg State (KS) - P.J. Sarwinski
Slippery Rock (PA) - Noah Grover
Southern Arkansas - Austin Wilkerson
Wayne State (MI) - Julius Wilkerson
Wingate (NC) - Trevor Grant
 
 
Division III
Allegheny (PA) - Hudson Alread
Bates (ME) - Tony Hooks
Berry (GA) - Jake Weitkamp
Chicago (IL) - Nicholas D'Ambrose
DePauw (IN) - Danny Sheehan
Gallaudet (DC) - Laron Thomas
Hampden-Sydney (VA) - Michael Harris
Hardin-Simmons (TX) - Cody Harral
Hobart (NY) - Cade Frucci
Hope (MI) - Daniel Romano
Johns Hopkins (MD) - JR Woods
Lake Forest (IL) - Dante Esposito
Lycoming (PA) - Cole Senior
Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) - Sante Parker Jr.
Middlebury (VT) - Gregory Livingston
Millsaps (MS) - Nic Hayes
Rhodes (TN) - Reggie Matthews
Saint John's (MN) - Michael Wozniak
Shenandoah (VA) - Mason Caldwell
Springfield (MA) - Lou Cocozza
Susquehanna (PA) - Elijah Hoffman
Trinity (CT) - Aidan Kennedy
Tufts (MA) - Johnathan Oneal
Washington & Jefferson (PA) - Alex Keith
Waynesburg (PA) - Tyler Raines
Wesleyan (CT) - Matt Simco
Wisconsin Lutheran - Brevin Jegerlehner
Wisconsin-Stout - Sean Borgerding
Wooster (OH) - Lake Barrett
 
 
NAIA
Dakota State (SD) - Travis Rebstock
Morningside (IA) - Joe Dolincheck
Rocky Mountain (MT) - Andrew Simon
Southwestern (KS) - Drew Smith