Logan Paben

Recognizing one of the most impressive groups of scholar-athletes in the history of college football, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) proudly announced today the 135 semifinalists for the 2015 William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments® and prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation.

The NFF will announce 15 finalists on Oct. 29, and each of them will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments. The finalists will travel to New York City for the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8, where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. At the event, one member of the class will be declared in dramatic fashion the winner of the 26th William V. Campbell Trophy and have his postgraduate scholarship increased to $25,000.

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 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.

Among the nine nominees from the NAIA Doane College Linebacker Garrett Borcher, a senior from Pawnee City.

Borcher is the Tigers' leader in tackles through the first three games this season, averaging 6.3 per game. He has also recorded three tackles for loss and one sack from his linebacker position. In addition to his success on the field, Borcher is successful in the classroom as well, earning Capital One Academic All-American honors last year.

Another nominee from the NAIA is Peru State senior football player Logan Paben from Columbus. Paben, a middle grades education major has a perfect grade point average. His other academic achievements include being named the Daktronics-NAIA A.O. Duer Male Award winner – the top NAIA student-athlete honor, being named as a CoSIDA Capital One Academic First Team after twice earning First Team District Honors, being named as a Daktronics-NAIA and Heart Scholar-Athlete – will be nominated again this year, and being inducted into Alpha Chi – a scholastic honorary.

On the field, last year Paben was named to the Heart of America Athletic Conference Second Team as an athlete and to the Third Team as a kick returner. After his sophomore season, Paben earned Heart honorable mention recognition. He has been twice named to the Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska NAIA honorable mention list.