Cousins named to Scholar-Athlete class

Academic awards in college football aren't talked about enough, in my opinion. So here's one.

Announced today, Kirk Cousins has been named to the National Football Foundation's National Scholar-Athlete Class. The 16 members were selected out of a pool of 127. As part of the honor, Cousins and the other members will be awarded an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship.

Here's some info on the program and class from a press release:

The NFF's National Scholar-Athlete program, launched in 1959, is the first initiative in history to award scholar-athletes postgraduate scholarships for their combined athletic, academic and leadership abilities. 


Each finalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship at the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 6 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and one of the 16 will be announced as the 22nd recipient of the William V. Campbell Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation. Named in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University, and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded that evening.


And a quote:


"The 2011 National Scholar-Athlete Class represents all that is right about college football," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, whose sons Peyton (Campbell winner) and Eli were NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "They have displayed the same competitive fire to win in the classroom that has distinguished them as some of the best football players in the country. In addition, each has found time to give back with an impressive list of leadership roles in their respective communities. Our goal in recognizing them is that future football players will be inspired to follow their example." 
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That's a lot of dough. Cousins will graduate in December with a degree in Kinesiology. He has expressed interest in a career in medicine, but professional football likely will be his No. 1 goal for now.