Ole Miss’ Evan Engram added two more preseason honors to his collection Wednesday. The senior tight end was named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list and announced as a nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®.
This is the second straight year that Engram has earned those two preseason distinctions. He has already been recognized this preseason on the Mackey Award watch list for the nation’s top tight end.
In his three-plus years as a Rebel, Engram has gone above and beyond the call of duty to be a mentor and role model in the community. The Powder Springs, Georgia, native has a special heart for mentally and physically challenged individuals, spending time with adults at the North Mississippi Regional Center and children at the C.M. Scott Center in Oxford. He has volunteered with the Oxford-Lafayette Special Olympics, including as a mentor for the 2014 and 2015 Unified Egg Bowls.
An integrated marketing communications major in the classroom, Engram has participated in Reading with the Rebels, a program in which Ole Miss student-athletes spend time reading with local elementary students and talking to them about the value of education. He has made several appearances at local schools, stressing to students the importance of good health and education. In addition, he has served as a camp counselor for a Fellowship of Christian Athletes football camp, has helped fill Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets for people in need, and helped sponsor a family during Christmas at a shelter in Memphis, including the purchase of a refrigerator (with his fellow Ole Miss tight ends and position coach Maurice Harris). He visited patients at Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, during a team visit to the state capital in March 2014, as well as at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans during the team’s Sugar Bowl week activities last year.
Engram was named to the 2015 Southeastern Conference Football Community Service Team and was Ole Miss’ nominee for the 2015 AFCA Good Works Team.
The All Sports Association presents the Wuerffel Trophy to the Football Bowl Subdivision football player who best exhibits exemplary community service.
Nominations for the Wuerffel Trophy are made by the respective universities’ sports information departments and will close on October 14. A current list of nominees can be found at www.wuerffeltrophy.org beginning August 1. Semifinalists for the award will be announced on November 3 and finalists will be announced on November 23.
The formal announcement of the 2016 recipient will be on December 6 at the National Football Foundation’s press conference in New York City.
The presentation of the 2016 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 48th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 10, 2017 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the AFCA Good Works Team®, which was established in 1992 to recognize a select group of college football players who have made a commitment to service and enriching the lives of others.
In honor of the 25th anniversary, Allstate and the AFCA will add three additional spots to this year’s team and announce a final roster of 25 members in September. For the first time in the award’s history, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® will be comprised of 12 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, 12 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA and an honorary head coach.
From the nominees submitted by sports information directors across the nation on behalf of their schools, a special voting panel consisting of former Good Works Team® members and prominent college football media members will select the 2016 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®.
Ole Miss’ Deterrian Shackelford won the 2014 Wuerffel Trophy and was voted team captain of the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®.
About the Wuerffel Trophy
The Wuerffel Trophy is college football’s premier award for community service. The All Sports Association presents the Wuerffel Trophy to the Football Bowl Subdivision football player who best exhibits exemplary community service, along with qualifying academic and athletic achievement. As the trophy namesake, Danny Wuerffel embodies the three categories of the award: Community Service, Academics and Athletics. Past winners of the Wuerffel Trophy are: 2015 Ty Darlington, University of Oklahoma; 2014 Deterrian Shackelford, University of Mississippi; 2013 Gabe Ikard, University of Oklahoma; 2012 Matt Barkley, University of Southern California; 2011 Barrett Jones, University of Alabama; 2010 Sam Acho, University of Texas; 2009 Tim Hiller, Western Michigan University; 2008 Tim Tebow, University of Florida; 2007 Paul Smith, University of Tulsa; 2006 Joel Penton, Ohio State University; and 2005 Rudy Niswanger, Louisiana State University. For more information on the Wuerffel Trophy, visit www.wuerffeltrophy.org.
About the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®
The Allstate AFCA Good Works Teams® were established in 1992 by the College Football Association, recognizing the extra efforts made by college football players and student support staff off the field. AFCA became the governing body of the award in 1997 and continues to honor college football players who go the extra mile for those in need. Allstate worked to present the award starting with the 2008 season.
The SEC leads all conferences with 65 selections to the Good Works Team since it began in 1992. The SEC is followed by the Big 12 Conference with 47 selections and the Atlantic Coast Conference with 29 selections. Georgia is in first place with 16 honorees to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.® The Bulldogs are followed by Nebraska with 14 honorees. Super Bowl XLII, XLVI and XLI champion quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning were members of the 2002 and 1997 Good Works Teams®, respectively.
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